Background of Beef Production in U.S. Beef cattle production is
an important industry in the United States and throughout the
world. Since beef cattle can graze forages in the open range and
pasturelands, they serve a unique role in providing high quality
protein for human consumption from byproducts and forage sources
that humans do not consume. Considerable land in the U.S. and
the world that will not support intensive crop production, can
often times sustain grasses and forages that conserve the land,
and produce feeds that cattle can utilize. Beef cattle
production is dispersed throughout the U.S., but a significant
amount of beef is produced on the rangelands of the Western U.S.
The cattle used for beef production in the U.S. historically
originated from two areas of the world. These include the Bos
taurus cattle from Europe and the Bos indicus from tropical
countries. Bos taurus were native to the temperate countries of
the UK (Scotland, England and Wales), France, Belgium, Spain,
Italy, Germany, Austri