The Great Puzzle: What role does a beta agonist play on my farm?

My farm is like a huge jigsaw puzzle.  There are many pieces that must be put together in the correct way in order to make the best beef in the most sustainable way.  I have a road sign along the highway with my farm’s mission statement: Protecting the Environment and Caring For Our Animals To Bring You Safe, Great-tasting, High Quality Nebraska Beef.  All of the decisions that I make at my cattle feed yard are made with this mission statement in mind.

Archie and I standing by the words that rule our lives…

I wake up every day asking myself how I can do a better job—how can I be a more responsible animal caregiver and grower of food?  Sometimes it is a question of paying closer attention to detail and sometimes it is a question of looking into new science / technology which will allow my animals to be more efficient producers of food.

We talked last week about how every action or choice has a consequence.  I think about this every time that I make a decision about how to care for my animals at the feed yard.  I talk with my veterinarian and my PhD nutritionist, I do personal research, I rely on personal experience, and I make a decision by weighing the positives against the negatives—knowing that every choice has a consequence.

I teach her how to care for cattle and raise beef. I also feed her that beef—good care and healthy beef is my priority.

I began feeding a beta agonist called ractopamine hydrochloride about four years ago.  I started feeding it to only a few of my animals and have slowly increased to feeding it to every one of my animals as I gained personal experience and confidence in the product.

This steer is in the final finishing phase at the feed yard. He is currently receiving ractopamine in his feed to help him continue to put on muscle as he is prepared for harvest…

Beta agonists work by activating either the beta 1 or the beta 2 receptor on the muscles of my cattle.  This affects protein synthesis and muscle growth.  What does this mean exactly?

1. As animals grow larger and get close to the time of harvest, their bodies tend to turn nutrients into fat instead of lean muscle.  For example, ractopamine encourages or repartitions those nutrients into muscle growth through protein synthesis rather than fat deposition.
2. This allows the animal to make more lean muscle (what we want to eat), and less fatty tissue (what we do not want to eat).
3. By making more muscle and less fat from nutrients, the animal becomes a more efficient user of its food thereby reducing the total environmental footprint of its food production.
   

   Another steer receiving ractopamine and in the final stages of growth prior to harvest…

Here is a list of questions that I worked through prior to making the decision to feed ractopamine to my animals:.

1. Does ractopamine affect the well-being or health of my animals? Good animal welfare is important to me and I want to ensure cattle comfort on my farm.  It has been my observation that cattle fed ractopamine on my farm remain comfortable and healthy.
2. Does ractopamine affect the quality of the beef that my animals grow?  I follow my animals from birth to harvest and there is no impact on the quality or taste of the beef (I eat it too!). However, ractopamine does have a positive change on the leanness of my beef product:  it makes my beef leaner with less fat that must be trimmed off at the harvest level.
3. Why feed ractopamine to cattle?  I feed it because it allows them to be more efficient convertors of my natural resources, while also allowing them to produce a leaner product with less fat trim at harvest.
4. Would I feed beef from cattle that had been fed ractopamine to my children?  Absolutely, I do it every day.
   

   Two more “big boys” that are close to being “put on the bus”…

As with any practice that I employ on my farm, I constantly watch and evaluate its use.  I will continue to research and study the product ractopamine as well as to continue to evaluate its effectiveness.  Taking care of my animals, my farm, and producing wholesome beef are my top priorities—everything that I do on my farm must help me to successfully fulfill my mission statement.

While one beta agonist helps Karyn to get more oxygen to her lungs while she participates in athletics, a different one helps me to grow the beef that feeds her…Each one plays an important role in our family.

Do you have more questions about the use of beta agonists in cattle?  If so, please share them.