California's Ranching Heritage
Domestic cattle have been present in the New World for 500 years, and have been an important component of California’s economic and social fabric since the establishment of the first Spanish mission in San Diego in the early 1700’s. By 1834, California’s missions operated a herd of beef cattle estimated at 400,000 head. Under Mexican rule, large "ranchos" were established, and cattle hides and tallow fueled the state’s economy. The Gold Rush during the 1800’s brought hundreds of thousands of new citizens to the state, as well as new demand for beef. Many of today’s ranches were established prior to or just following the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848.
Today, California’s ranching enterprises are as diverse as any in the world. Ranchers own and/or manage approximately 38 million acres of privately and publicly owned rangelands. Most California ranches are family owned and operated, and many have been in the same family for four or five generations. The long-term success of ranching operations requires the careful stewardship of animals and the environment. |
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Today's Beef Cattle Industry
Regional and operational factors, as well as cattle breed, nutritional requirements, reproductive status and behavioral characteristics influence beef cattle production in California. California’s geographical diversity, along with its climatic and environmental variability, has resulted in the state’s highly complex livestock production industry.
California has more than 100 million acres of land, 38 million of which are range and pasture lands. Of these 38 million acres, approximately half are owned by the federal government, making many California ranchers heavily dependent on the availability of federal grazing permits. California’s rangelands are classified as Mediterranean, desert, and intermountain, and are among the most productive in the West. California’s predominant range type is Mediterranean annual rangelands, which encompass all of the Central Valley, as well as the coastal and foothill ranges. Annual forage production in these regions is seasonal, but grazing of green or dry forage occurs year round. The Mediterranean grasslands of the North Coast, because of the region’s moderate climate and increased rainfall, produce forage for a longer period. The state’s desert rangelands are located primarily in the southeastern region of California. A mixture of annual vegetation, perennial grasses and shrubs provide forage for domestic livestock and many species of wildlife. Winter and spring rains support annual plant growth; however, rainfall can be erratic and shrubs provide feed for livestock during dryer periods. Intermountain rangelands are located in the northern and eastern regions of the state. Winter dormancy and spring-summer growth dictate livestock management systems vastly different than in other regions of the state.
Cattle typically graze lower elevation forage in the spring, and are then moved to higher elevation pastures during the summer months. Ranchers in the intermountain areas generally harvest and store forage during the summer for winter-feeding. During the fall, cattle may graze crop residue, residual rangeland, or pasture forage. Cattle may be fed hay or transported out of the region during the winter months. |
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Keep up to date with the California Beef Industry |
CCA Master Policy Book
To view CCA's 2007-2008 Master Policy Book, click here | |
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Types of Cattle Operations
California ranches consist of one or more of four types of operations: cow-calf, seed stock, stocker, and feedlot.
A cow-calf operation maintains a breeding herd of cows, replacement heifers (young females) and bulls. Steer calves and most heifer calves are sold, but some may be selected to enter the breeding herd. Calves are sold at weaning (typically 205 days of age) or are retained for an additional forage production season as stockers. Climatic and management conditions dictate different calving seasons in different regions.
Seedstock production is a specialized cow-calf operation that produces purebred or registered cattle. The goal of seedstock production is to make genetic improvements in cattle that benefit the entire beef industry. Improvements in purebred cattle are documented through extensive records maintained by both the individual rancher and breed organizations. Seedstock are marketed as bulls and replacement females to other seedstock producers or to cow-calf producers.
Stocker operations grow steer and/or heifer calves or yearlings on rangeland or other roughage. Generally, cattle are purchased following weaning in the fall and are wintered on low quality feed until new grass can support the animals’ nutritional requirements. Stocker cattle are normally marketed or transported to feedlots at the end of the grazing season when nutritional quality of the forage begins to decline.
Feedlots are facilities designed to meet the feed, water and care requirements of large numbers of cattle held in confinement. Beef fed solely roughage feeds take years to reach market weight and condition, and land resources in the U.S. are insufficient for a forage based beef supply at the current level of consumer demand. Feedlots utilize abundant sources of feed grains and by-products to efficiently feed large numbers of cattle. These higher energy feed sources greatly reduce the time required to reach market weights. By feeding cattle in feedlots, finished cattle weighing 1,050 to 1,150 pounds can be marketed at 18 to 24 months of age. Most of California’s feedlots are located in the lower Sacramento, San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys. Once the top cattle feeding state in the nation, California’s feedlots have declined in number over the last several decades due to overregulation and the exodus of beef processing facilities from the state. |
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Breeds of Cattle
There are 275 recognized cattle breeds in the world, more than 40 of which are produced by California. The state’s beef cattle industry is dominated by five to ten breeds which best fit California’s climatic and forage conditions. Breeds differ in many characteristics. Simple visual traits may include hair color or the presence or absence of horns (cattle without horns are termed "polled"). Differences in production traits such as reproductive performance, growth rate, milk production, disease resistance, carcass merit, and behavior also occur within and between breeds. Most cattle produced in California are crossbred to combine desirable traits from two or more breeds. Crossbreeding may be used to develop animals with characteristics for optimum production in a particular region. For more information on cattle breeds we suggest Oklahoma State University's website devoted to livestock breeds.
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