At What Age Should You Cull a Beef Cow
Utilize Your Eyes and Records to Decide Which Cows to Cull
Which cows in your herd are consistently making you coin? Every year, the moo-cow-calf producer needs to critically evaluate each animal in the herd and decide if she is paying her upkeep. Open cows (those that are not pregnant) at the end of breeding season obviously are loftier on the choose list. With variable costs running $400-$500 per yr per head and an additional $100-$300 in fixed costs, keeping open cows is hard to justify financially. Beyond pregnancy status, what other variables are important to evaluate?
Structural soundness, trunk condition score, age, almanac performance, and disposition are significant factors to consider when developing a culling guild specifically for your farm. This culling order is essentially a ranking of the moo-cow traits you consider most important for a cow to exist productive on your farming operation. Alternative is uncommonly important during times of drought or a year with marginal hay production as yous may be forced to cull deeper to manage through a challenging flavour. However, there may be times to consider keeping more replacement heifers and letting older cows become, such every bit when many in the herd are getting older and the heifers have adept genetic potential to perform.
To begin, it is best to think near which animals in the herd have the least chance of existence productive over the long term or are uttermost away from existence productive. Equally important are factors such every bit disposition and phenotype (color, size) that touch the marketability of offspring. The following is a listing of factors to carefully consider when deciding who to choose this twelvemonth.
Bad hooves or claws are an case of structural problems that adversely affect performance.
•Disposition– A cow's attitude is an important consideration in any cattle operation. Bad beliefs has both a genetic component and is also learned behavior by calves at an early age. Mean, nervous, "loftier strung" cattle are dangerous to people, harm facilities, tear upwards fences and brand gathering and working cattle hard at best. Recall a good cow can be protective of her calf without being dangerous and destructive.
•Pregnancy Condition– A cow should produce a calf at least one time a twelvemonth and the sale of that calf needs to pay her way. Diagnosing a cow every bit "open up" (non pregnant) is as simple as having a veterinary palpate for pregnancy at least 40 days either after breeding or after the bull is removed. A simple, inexpensive blood exam can also be used 28 days post-breeding to determine pregnancy condition. If many cows are institute open up at pregnancy check, work with your veterinarian to determine if reproductive disease, poor nutrition, bull infertility or inability to conceive was the cause. Remember cows that calve late in the season accept fewer opportunities to breed back in a controlled (for instance, 90 day) breeding season. Summer heat and fescue toxicosis tin can be important contributors to depression conception rates.
•Structural Soundness – Bad hooves or claws, lameness due to hip/knee injury, eye bug, and poor udder conformation are all examples of structural problems that adversely touch performance. Proficient feet and legs are essential for weight maintenance, convenance, calving, self-defence force, and raising a dogie. The udder should be firmly attached with a level floor and high plenty that newborn calves can easily discover and latch onto teats. Cows with blind or light quarters, funnel or airship shaped teats, or whatever history of mastitis are stiff candidates for culling.
Poor udder or teat conformation is an example of a structural problem that adversely affects performance.
•Cows with chronic atmospheric condition that will not ameliorate such as progressive weight loss, early cases of cancer eye, repeated episodes of vaginal prolapse during pregnancy, and extreme sensitivity to the furnishings of fescue toxicosis should be removed from the herd as soon every bit the dogie is weaned. Cows with confirmed disease conditions such as Johne's illness, bovine lymphoma, or advanced cancer eye should not be sold to a commercial marketplace. The most mutual reasons for carcass condemnation at slaughter include emaciation, lymphoma, peritonitis, cancer centre, blood poisoning, bruising, and other types of cancers.
•Historic period – Cows are considered most productive betwixt 4-9 years of historic period. The size and shape of the teeth can be used to assess age but always evaluate them in lite of the diet. Cows that swallow gritty or sandy feeds and forages accept increased tooth wear across their years. Regardless, cows with badly worn or missing teeth will have a hard fourth dimension maintaining body status. Remember, older cattle die of natural causes, too.
•Poor Performance– Record keeping is an invaluable tool for evaluating performance. Readable visual tags on both the moo-cow and calf permit you to match calf sale weights to the dams and identify cows that did not produce a dogie. Inferior genetics and poor milk production produce lightweight calves that do not grow well. An overweight cow or big framed cow with a pocket-sized calf that doesn't gain weight usually means the moo-cow is not producing much milk. Sick baby calves may be an indication of poor quality colostrum and poor mothering power.
•Phenotype – Cows that exercise not "fit" the herd because of external features such every bit unusual breed, size, muscling and color are candidates for culling. These challenges may be overcome to some degree by selection of sire to balance out the unwanted traits. Remember that buyers of commercial calves look for uniformity in colour, weight, and frame in a set up of calves and volition pay a premium price for it.
•The last ones to get – Hopefully culling will never have to go this deep in your herd. Bred cows over 9 years old, replacement heifers (especially those that did non brood in the get-go 30 days), and bred cows 3-nine years one-time should be the terminal sold. Thin cows that conceive late in the breeding season should become first.
Since 20% of gross receipts in a typical cow-calf operation come from the sale of cull animals, pay attention to cost seasonality and torso status score earlier sending these animals to market. Prices are historically highest in spring and everyman in tardily fall/early wintertime when spring built-in calves are weaned and many culls are sent to market. Adding weight and torso condition to culls is an opportunity to increase profitability but tin can be expensive. Work with a nutritionist to come upwardly with realistic cost projections before feeding choose cattle for a long period of fourth dimension.
When information technology comes to making decisions on who to cull, retrieve to consider functionality in your surround. Is she an "piece of cake keeper"? Does she go along flesh and condition and raise a proficient calf, even when feed and forage is limited? On the contrary side, does she give too much milk or is her frame size and so large that you can't continue weight on her, even when pasture is plentiful? Is her pelvis so small and tight that calving is a problem and will exist a problem in her offspring? Functionality leads to longevity and improved efficiency. By retaining more than young cows in the herd, you can decrease the number of replacement heifers needed each twelvemonth and cull cows that are just marginally profitable. Immature cows as well increment in value as they mature because the body weight of the moo-cow and her calf's weaning weight will continue to increment until approximately five years of age. Longevity will as well exist improved through crossbreeding because hybrid vigor adds substantially ane.iii years of productivity or 1 more calf per cow. If because buying heifers, UK has a decision back up tool available at http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AgEcon/pubs/BredHeifer.xlsx to help understand how to evaluate the toll in your specific circumstances.
In summary, a herd of easy-keeping, efficient cows is possible through rigorous alternative and conscientious selection of replacements. Friction match your genetics to your management and surround for maximum efficiency, longevity, and ultimately, maximum enjoyment of cattle production.
Cull Cow Language
•Breakers (75-80% lean)- Highest conditioned cull cows (BCS ≥ 7), excellent dressing percentages
•Boners or "boning utility" (80-85% lean)- Moderately conditioned (BCS v-seven), well-nourished commercial beef cows (usually highest price choose)
•Leans (85-ninety%)- Lower BCS (one-iv), lower dressing percentages, susceptible to bruising during transport and expect more trim loss. Moving cows from lean to boner status tin usually be washed efficiently.
Source: https://beef2live.com/story-use-eyes-records-decide-cows-cull-0-180684
0 Response to "At What Age Should You Cull a Beef Cow"
Post a Comment