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The majority of veal meat produced in the US are from milk-fed calves. The meat colour is ivory or creamy pink, with a firm, fine, and velvety appearance. In Canada, calves intended for the milk-fed veal stream are usually slaughtered when they reach 20 to 24 weeks of age, weighing 200 to 230 kg (450 to 500 lb). [5]
Young cattle (regardless of sex) are called calves until they are weaned, then weaners until they are a year old in some areas; in other areas, particularly with male beef cattle, they may be known as feeder calves or feeders. After that, they are referred to as yearlings or stirks [4] if between one and two years of age. [5]
Mouthing a two tooth grass-fed Murray Grey heifer prior to sale. The age of cattle is determined chiefly by examination of the teeth, and less perfectly by the horn rings or the length of the tail brush; due to bang-tailing, which is the act of cutting the long hairs at the tip of the tail short to identify the animal after management practices, the last method is the least reliable.
The beef is usually kept for a period of 4 to 10 days in wet aging. Modified-atmosphere packaging (MAP) is usually employed for the vacuum packaging of meat; typically between 60 and 80 percent oxygen to retain its appetizing color, with red meat such as beef needing a higher oxygen level than less vividly colored meat such as pork.
The meat of adult cattle is known as beef, and that of calves as veal. Other body parts are used as food products, including blood, liver, kidney, heart and oxtail. Approximately 300 million cattle, including dairy animals, are slaughtered each year for food. [99] About a quarter of the world's meat comes from cattle. [100]
A nine-month-old steer or bull is therefore expected to weigh about 250 to 270 kg (550 to 600 lb). Heifers will weigh at least 200 kg (440 lb) at eight months of age. 150 days old calf. Calves are usually weaned at about eight to nine months of age, but depending on the season and condition of the dam, they might be weaned earlier.
The USDA grading system uses eight different grades to represent various levels of marbling in beef: Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, and Canner. The grades are based on two main criteria: the degree of marbling (intramuscular fat) in the beef, and the maturity (estimated age of the animal at slaughter).
Cow–calf operations are widespread throughout beef-producing countries, [5] and the goal of a cow–calf operation is to produce young beef cattle, which are usually sold. True to the name, farm and ranch herds consist mostly of adult female cows, their calves, and young females, called heifers, which will produce calves once of breeding age.