direction, and by the 1950s the cattle in most highly
regarded herds were much too small and predisposed
to fattening to be profitable under any commercial
management programme.
A major change in the United States beef industry
began in the mid-1950s, with the development
of large feedlots in the Great Plains states. To be
profitable in these new feedlots, cattle had to be
able to grow at a fairly high rate for a long feeding
period (four or five months) without getting too fat.
The small early fattening cattle which had previously
been popular were not acceptable to the feedlot
industry. Charolais and other continental European
breeds became popular, and cattle of the British beef
breeds were selected for increased size and growth.
From the mid-1950s to the late 1960s, larger cattle
were favoured as long as they were fairly compact in
their conformation. However, by the late 1960s, larger