How many types of hormones are there?

There are mainly three different types of implants used in beef production. The first one is made up of more natural hormones, for example progesterone, estrogen and testosterone. These three hormones are all produced by the animal. If these hormones are used they are used as a single estrogen implant or as estrogen that are combined.
The second implant contains an ingredient that signals to the animal’s brain to produce more of the natural hormone.
The third type has a synthetic testosterone combined with estrogen.
(To read more about the different brands click here)

  Click here to read more about frame sizing

In feedlots both heifers and steers are treated and it is up to the producer to make the decision of what would be the most beneficial hormone to treat each specific animal with. Things that are taken into consideration are the species, age, sex, frame size starting weight of the group of animals that are going to be implants and more.

                                                                               

Most facilities have different programs that they choose to use. Many programs lay out specific things like the date the cattle are brought in, weight they are brought in, age, and time they are expected to be finished. This can help the managers determine if they are going to implant the cattle once, twice or even up to three times depending on the implant they use. Different implants vary of the length in which they absorbed over.

The programs vary from brand to brand but all of them work in similar ways. According to “Implant Strategies for Finishing Cattle” found on Merck-animal-health-use’s website it is recommenced to “let the cattle tell you when they are finished, look at the cattle’s body composition and feed records since not all 700 weight animals are the same.”


Sources:


http://beef2live.com/story-feeder-cattle-grading-0-105331
http://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/binaries/39318_RevXS_TB_12_Strategies_Finishing_Cattle_Final_tcm96-86719.pdf
http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?number=B1302

Why are hormones used anyways??

The way that implants work are rather simple. The growth promotants work by changing what happens to the nutrients that animals eat into muscle rather than fat. Muscle grows faster than fat so when the animal can grow more muscle than fat, this reduces the time it takes to reach the goal weight of the animal. 

Meat on the left is very lean and meat on the
right is overly fatty 
 

Since cattle are able to produce muscle faster this also increases the leanness of meat. With lean beef, you get the nutritional benefits while avoiding much of the saturated fat known to increase the risk for heart disease.

The FDA website states “Since the 1950s, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a number of steroid hormone drugs for use in beef cattle and sheep, including natural estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and their synthetic versions. These drugs increase the animals’ growth rate and the efficiency by which they convert the feed they eat into meat.”  It is very surprising to many consumers when they find out this fact from the FDA. They are often unaware that implants are not a new practice in the beef industry.

By taking less time and less product farmers are able to cut out costs in production. According to the article Growth Promotant Use in Cattle Production, Growth Promotants improve cattle growth rates and feed conservation efficiency, increasing annual U.S. beef production by more than 700 million pounds while saving more than 6 billion pounds of feed. Personally, I think that is a huge number to think about.  

 Sources:
 http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ProductSafetyInformation/ucm055436.htm
 http://www.explorebeef.org/cmdocs/explorebeef/factsheet_growthpromotantuse.pdf

In droves cattle network’s article “the facts about hormones and beef” it is stated that the use of supplement hormones in beef production has been scientifically proven as safe for consumers and is approved by the FDA.

Every individual, both plants and animals, produces hormones that stimulate cellular activity.   There are six main hormones that approved in beef production and they are all very similar to synthetic hormones. 

Back side of the ear of a bovine animal 

 All the hormones classified as growth hormones are put into the bovine animal in the ear. They are placed in the back of the ear under the skin.  

The instruments used in this procedure are syringe like that are sanitized in between each animal. The implants are put in this location so the meat is not damaged and never enters the food chain.  The hormones are in the form of small pellets that release the hormones slowly over time.  

One Gram of Salt 

The feed efficiency and growth rate are the biggest things that benefit from the implants. When thinking about the differences in hormones of implanted beef versus non implanted beef the differences are tiny. The implanted amounts in an implanted animal are 7 nanograms and an animal that hasn’t been implanted has 5 nanograms of estrogen. One nanogram is equivalent to one billionth of a gram.

When thinking about the size of a gram, one gram 

of salt doesn't even fill up a teaspoon. 

So you still might be questioning is the one gram of "hormones" in your beef safe? Well yes all growth promoting products are approved by the FDA based on rigorous scientific testing similar to test that are used in test for medications that humans use. 

Beef isn't the only place that estrogen is present in our every day diet. The Beef Magazine shared this photo of the M&M to show consumers what other foods they might be consuming that they didn't even know had estrogen in them. Stated by the beef magazine "each pint jar of M&M’s has been measured so they represent the amount of nanograms found in different kinds of food and in the human body naturally in comparison to the amount found in beef In the pint jar furthest to the right, is a sixth of an M&M. This sliver of an M&M represents the amount of hormones found in a 3-oz. serving of beef from cattle that received an implant. In the two middle pint jars are the amount of hormones found in a 3-oz. serving of potatoes with about 20 M&Ms, and a jar showing the hormones in peas containing a few more M&Ms. The pint jar on the left end, which is full of M&Ms, showcases the amount found in a 3-oz serving of cabbage.”

 Sources: http://beefmagazine.com/blog/visual-add-your-arsenal-about-hormones-beef
 http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/The-facts-about-hormones-and-beef-169217746.html

HI- My name is Celena- I am excited and nervous both, to begin my first blogging experience so I hope you enjoy!

I am going to try my best to provide you with as much education about the “hormones” or “growth promotants” used in the beef industry today and why producers do it.  The majority of beef in the United States today are finished with a grain ration in some sort of feed lot. 

 Most cattle are raised on pasture land for about 12-18 months and then they are transported to a feedlot for finishing. After they are transported, cattle spend about 100-120 days eating finishing rations.  The rations they are feed are very balanced diets of grains, forages and nutrient supplements that are created by nutritionists. Feeding cattle can be expensive so nutritionist work on creating feed rations that are the least expensive for the farmer and give the cattle the most nutrients and energy possible. 

In the young life of a male calf most farmers neuter the bull calves and they become steers. (More information on castrating male calves can be found if you click here.) The hormones that bulls produce cause bulls to grow faster and produce more muscle.  Once these bull calves become steers their hormones change.  

This is similar in heifers, the young heifers produce hormones, but much less than older or pregnant heifers. Producers provide small amounts of similar hormones to the cattle to assist with growth reduces cost and time it takes to finish the cattle.