Beef cattle can utilize roughages of both low and high quality, including pasture forage, hay, silage, corn (maize) fodder, straw, and grain by-products. Cattle also utilize nonprotein nitrogen in the form of urea and biuret feed supplements, which can supply from one-third to one-half of all the protein needs of beef animals. Nonprotein nitrogen is relatively cheap and abundant and is usually fed in a grain ration or in liquid supplements with molasses and phosphoric acid or is mixed with silage at ensiling time; it also may be used in supplement blocks for range cattle or as part of range pellets. Other additions to diet include corn (maize), sorghum, milo, wheat, barley, or oats. Fattening cattle are usually fed from 2.2 to 3.0 percent of their live weight per day, depending on the amount of concentrates in the ration and the rate at which they are being fattened. Such cattle gain from 2.2 to 3.0 pounds (1.0 to 1.4 kilograms) per day and require from 1.3 to 3.0 pounds (0.6 to 1.4 kilograms) of crude protein, according to their weight and stage of fattening.

In the United States more than 75 percent of beef cattle are born on pasture and moved to feedlots after weaning. Feedlots support maximal growth and weight gain through a high-energy diet of grains and legumes, such as corn and soy. Up until the early 1970s, when the practice was prohibited, fattening cattle were given the synthetic hormone diethylstilbestrol as a supplement in their feed or in ear implants. The use of this synthetic hormone results in a 10 to 20 percent increase in daily gain with less feed required per pound of gain. Synthetic vitamin A sources have become so cheap as to permit the use of 10,000 to 30,000 International Units per day for cattle being fattened for market (finished) in enclosures bare of vegetation used for this purpose. The economics of modern cattle finishing encourages the use of all-concentrate rations or a minimum of roughage, or roughage substitutes including oyster shells, sand, and rough plastic pellets. Corn (maize) silage produces heavy yields per acre at a low cost and makes excellent roughage for beef-cattle finishing.

Beef cows kept for the production of feeder calves are usually maintained on pasture and roughages with required amounts of protein supplement and some grain being fed only to first-calf heifers or very heavy milking cows. Most beef cows tend to be overnourished and may become excessively fat and slow to conceive unless they happen to be exceptionally heavy milkers. Most pregnant cows go into the winter in satisfactory condition and need to gain only enough to offset the weight of the fetus and related membranes. They can therefore utilize coarser roughages, having a total daily crude protein requirement of from 1.3 to 1.7 pounds (0.58 to 0.76 kilogram). Daily vitamin A supplement at the rate of 18,000 to 22,000 International Units per cow is advisable unless the roughages are of a green, leafy kind and the fall pasture has been of excellent quality. Feed requirements for bulls vary with age, condition, and activity, from 2.0 to 2.4 pounds of crude protein per day; from 25,000 to 40,000 International Units of vitamin A; and during breeding periods nearly the same energy intake as calves or short yearlings being finished for market, the main feeding requirement being to prevent their becoming excessively fat.

All cattle require salt (sodium chloride) and a palatable source of both calcium and phosphorus, such as limestone and steamed bone meal. Most commercial salts carry trace minerals as relatively cheap insurance against deficiencies that occasionally exist in scattered locations.

Beef cattle management

Beef production has become highly scientific and efficient because of the high cost of labour, land, feed, and money. Most brood-cow herds, which require a minimum of housing and equipment, are managed so as to reduce costs through pasture improvement and are typically found in relatively large areas and herds. Other aspects of management include performance testing for regular production of offspring that will gain rapidly and produce acceptable carcasses and the use of preventive medicine, feed additives, pregnancy checks, fertility testing of sires, artificial insemination of some purebred and commercial herds, protection against insects and parasites, both internal and external, adequate but not excessive feed intakes, and a minimum of handling.

Calving of beef cows is arranged to occur in the spring months to take advantage of the large supplies of cheap and high-quality pasture forages. Fall calving is less common and occurs generally in regions where winters are moderate and supplies of pasture forage are available throughout the year. Calves are normally weaned at eight to ten months of age because beef cows produce very little milk past that stage and also because they need to be rested before dropping their next calf. Feeder calves sell by the pound, so that weight for age is even more important than conformation or shape. Consequently, crossbred cattle are used; their hybrid vigour results in greater breeding efficiency and milk production on the part of the dam, as well as greater birth weight, vigour, and gaining ability on the part of the offspring.

Beef cows are normally first bred at 15 to 18 months. The gestation period is 283 days, and the interval between estrus, or periods in which the dam is in heat, is 21 days. Cows should produce a living calf every 12 months. Pasture breeding, in which nature is allowed to take its course, calls for one mature bull for every 25 cows, whereas hand breeding, in which control is exercised by the breeder, requires half as many bulls. Artificial insemination permits one outstanding sire to produce thousands of calves annually.