Backgrounding

{{Short description|Way of feeding livestock before selling them}}

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Backgrounding is an intermediate stage sometimes used in cattle production which begins after weaning and ends upon placement in a feedlot. Background feeding relies more heavily on forage (e.g., pasture, hay) in combination with grains to increase a calf's weight by several hundred pounds and to build up immunity to diseases before putting them in a feedlot in preparation for slaughter. Some cattle operations specialize in backgrounding.{{CRS|article = Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition|url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110810044532/http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/05jun/97-905.pdf|author= Jasper Womach}}