– Dr. Andrew Griffith, Assistant Professor, Livestock Marketing Specialist, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee
Necessary terms a cattleman should know.
I received some questions from a gentleman recently concerning some of the terminology used to describe cattle. These questions had to do with certain classes of cattle and what weights of cattle fall into certain categories. This certainly spurred some thoughts in how important is for cattle producers to not only be familiar with cattle terminology, but fully understand the meanings of industry terms.
Several years ago, I put together a publication with common terms in the cattle industry – Cattle and Beef Market Definitions. This is not an exhaustive list of cattle and beef market terms, but it contains many of the necessary terms. It is certainly a list that anyone in the industry should know and understand well. Knowing these terms can assist in communicating effectively with others in the industry when it concerns cattle and beef. These terms can also help in communicating with those outside the industry.