Build-a-Calf Workshop

Students explore concepts of heredity in beef cattle and identify dominant and recessive traits.

Grades
3 – 5
Estimated Time
45 minutes
Updated
February 28, 2024
black calf with white face in a field
Image: A “Black Baldy” calf (Charles/AdobeStock)

Background

Lesson Activities

Credits

Author

Kelsey Faiver and Will Fett | Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation

Acknowledgements

Adapted from Oklahoma Agriculture in the Classroom

Sources

  1. Virginia Cooperative Extension: Reproductive Management | Virginia Tech
  2. Ranking States by Beef Cows | Beef2Live
  3. Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner | NCBA
  4. Select Sires Farmer-Owned Cooperative

Standards

National Content Area Standards

  • Science
    • 3-LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
      • 3-LS3-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.
      • 3-LS3-2: Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.