What Is Backgrounding Cattle?

Backgrounding is a stage of beef production that many consumers never hear about. It generally occurs after weaning and before final finishing.

What happens during backgrounding?

Young cattle are grown over a period of time before entering their final finishing stage. Depending on the operation, cattle may graze pasture, crop residue or forage, or receive stored feeds and supplemental grain.

Why background cattle?

Backgrounding allows cattle to continue growing frame and muscle before being placed on a higher-energy finishing ration. It can also allow producers to make use of pasture, forage and seasonal feed resources.

Where does it happen?

Some cow-calf ranches background their own calves. Other cattle are sold to specialized backgrounding operations.

That is one reason PureBeef encourages consumers to ask not only where beef was purchased, but where the animal was born, raised and finished.