cattle

Cattle Industry in Highlands County

Cattle production is a major industry in Highlands County and cattle grazing on range and pasture land take up a significant portion of the land in our rural county. There are a wide variety of cattle breeds used in the county, including Beefmaster, Angus, Brangus and numerous other Brahman crosses. Brahman cattle are crossed into many of the cattle in Florida because Brahmans can tolerate our summer heat much better than many of the other pure breeds used in this country. You can tell the breeds crossed into a particular animal by the breed name - for example, a Braford is a Brahman-Hereford cross, Brangus is half Brahman/half Angus, and so on. Brahman cattle are easily identified by their large floppy ears and the hump on their back. Pure Brahmans are mainly used for breeding rather than routine production, since they tend to have less 'marbling' (fat) and are therefore do not produce the most tender meat.

Florida is the only major rangeland cattle state east of the Mississippi River; however, most Florida cattle are 'finished' in Texas. Cattle need to be fed corn in the last few weeks or months before being taken to market to give the meat the proper flavor and appearance, and it is cheaper to ship the cattle to an area of corn production than to bring the corn here. One final note - there is a difference between range land and pasture land. Rangeland is unimproved by the producer - he plants no grass, uses no pesticides, etc. The cattle simply graze on whatever nature provides. Pasture land is improved by grass planting and fertilization, and sometime by irrigation (though irrigation of pasture land is rare here).

The Natural Resource Conservation Service can assist cattle producers in nutrient management, cattle rotation management and other aspects of cattle production at no charge. Field rotation of cattle is important to ensure that a given number of cattle spend the proper number of days in a field to maximize use of grass. If cattle spend too short a time in an area they may eat only the best grass, leaving the rest untouched. Uniform grazing is important in maximizing land use efficiency. If cattle spend to long in an area they may damage the grass to the point that it must be replanted. Fencing off small sections of a field is an important aspect of this management, since cattle allowed to roam freely in a single large field will not use the vegetation efficiently. The NRCS can assist producers with the cost of fencing through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) - sign up for EQIP is generally early in the year. Contact our office at 402-6545 for more information.