Where Do Beef Cattle live?
Cows and calves spend the spring, summer and fall living and grazing on pasture. Often such pastureland is unsuitable for any other cropping practices. During the winter, various methods of protection are provided such as natural shelter areas or barns. The hardiness of the animals allows them to comfortably adapt to our climate. Cattle are social animals that do well in herds, where the safety of numbers allows them a natural comfort level. The average herd size of a cow-calf farm in Ontario is approximately 20 to 25 cows, which is relatively small when compared to some of the large breeding operations that exist in some western provinces. After the calves are weaned, they become known as backgrounders or stockers. These weanling calves will be kept grazing on pasture or in feedlots eating a forage (hay-based) diet until they are moved to specialized feedlots. Today the majority of cattle in Canada are brought to a finished market weight in feedlots. In these specialized facilities, c
