"I keep hearing that we’re in a recession, and isn’t that negative for beef demand? Historically, no,” Mike Sands, Informa Economics, told producers at Feeding Quality Forums in North Platte, Neb., and Amarillo, Texas, last month. The worldwide demand for feed and food continues to increase, as places like China, India, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore continue to grow in wealth. “That demand on resources is not going away. People are going to talk about eroding beef demand — and that is still a risk — but historically, that’s concentrated in the foodservice industry while retail demand increases. Taken together, beef demand during recessions does not fare badly,” Sands explained.
With these thoughts in mind, we asked Tom Troxel, associate head of the Department of Animal Science-Extension at the University of Arkansas, and his colleague, UA professor of breeding and genetics Brett Barham, to offer some of their best “Beef Tips" to help producers achieve success this year.
1. GENETICS & COWS. "If you're keeping heifers," said Barham, "those offspring of that bull are going to be in that cow herd for maybe ten or more years." That makes the investment in good genetics even more critical.
2. IT'S A GOOD TIME TO SELL CULL COWS. Many producers, Troxel said, have already been doing so, replacing older cows with younger stock over the last couple of years. Ordinarily, he said, we'd be at a rebuilding stage in the cattle cycle, but that's not happening this time.
3. THINK ABOUT RETAINED OWNERSHIP. "Since the input costs were so high in 2008," Troxel explained, "if we were able to get some cost-effective gains on grass throughout the wintertime and sell them with the higher market in spring in 2009, I thought that was a very positive thing to do."
4. CONSIDER A.I. Artificial insemination is a cost-effective way to infuse your herd with superior genetics. However, Barham said AI is best suited to "producers that are set up to have the facilities where they can actually run their cows through the chute, and either have access to hiring somebody to do the actual insemination, or going to a school to learn how to do it themselves."
5. YOU DON'T NEED TO GO 100% A.I. Barham suggested breeding your better cows through AI and holding back the female offspring to build your herd's genetics.
6. LOOK INTO LINKING. Troxel says larger operators can enter into arrangements with feedlots or strategic alliance organizations.
7. UTILIZE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES. Like, for instance, the Arkansas Steer Feed-out Program; as Troxel said, it "helps the producer learn more about the feedlot industry, the packing industry, and how well their cows perform."
8. TRACK THE FUTURES MARKET. Troxel said, "I use the futures to try to project what corn prices, or what cattle prices might be, to help make those decisions about retained ownership or not."
9. ESTABLISH A CALVING SEASON. If you have a defined calving season, Barham pointed out, you're watching out for calving difficulties over a shorter period of time. The ages of your calves are also grouped more closely, making for more uniform weights at sale time; and, processing events like vaccination and castration can be performed more efficiently.
10. CONSIDER FENCELINE WEANING. This technique involves putting the cows on one side of a hotwired fence and the calves on the other. "Calves bawl less," said Troxel. "They shrink less; they gain faster after weaning, and they'll increase their market value because of all that."
11. DISEASE PREVENTION. There's a tenfold cost difference, Barham said, between preventing a disease and having to treat for it. "A lot of the reproductive diseases can be pretty devastating," he said, "and a lot of those can be easily prevented with vaccination."
12. TEST FOR TOXINS. They might be more of a problem with this year's feed supply, Barham said. "There was a lot of substandard grain that may not have been able to be accepted at most coops, that are available for purchase for cattle feed."
13. BE A GOOD "MANAGER". "I kind of look at a cow/calf producer like a manager of a professional baseball team," said Troxel. "He can't hit the ball; he can't throw the ball, but he brings in that left-handed reliever at the right time, to try to put the odds in his favor of winning. And that's what cattle producers have to do, position their ranch so the odds are in their favor of being profitable."
