In Canada, there are approximately 10.2 million beef cattle on over 60,000 farms across the country. Beef cattle are raised throughout B.C., which has about five per cent of the national beef herd. There are over 4,000 beef farms across the province.
The life of a beef cow begins on a cow-calf operation. In the summer, cows are bred and give birth to calves the following spring. The calves are raised alongside their mothers on hay and pasture with the rest of the cow-calf herd. Most of the care of the calves is left to their mother, with some interventions from the farmer (i.e. vaccinations, castration of male calves, tagging, branding, and disbudding). In the fall, when calves are approximately five to eight months of age, they are weaned from their mothers and raised in groups with other calves.
