Fall is here and now is the time to decide which cows should be culled and which cows should be kept. This decision, however, is not an easy one to make. Many factors go into deciding which cows to cull, and choosing those cows can impact your operation’s profitability in many ways.
Reproductive Inefficiency
Ted Cunningham, livestock specialist with the University of Missouri Extension, noted reproductive inefficiency, or more simply a cow that fails to have a calf on a 365 day cycle, is the most important reason to cull a cow, in his opinion.
“This is why pregnancy exams, especially on spring calving cows, is very important. If a spring calving cow is open in the fall, I don’t want to pay her feed bill during the winter, and this is likely a good point to remove her from the breeding herd. Cows that take significantly longer than 365 days between calves should also be considered for culling. These are the cows that if kept, seem to get later and later each year during the calving season, and eventually will be more likely to come up open, especially in herds that have strict calving seasons.
“These problems can come from a number of causes. A significant amount of research has shown that cows that are thin at calving have a much tougher time being re-bred in a timely manner, and therefore this may be a cause, and may also indicate an animal whose feed requirements are too high for your feed resources.”
Jane Parrish, the Extension Beef Cattle Specialist at Mississippi State University, wrote in her article, “Cow Culling Decisions” that “low reproductive rate, poor performance, age, (complications with the) mouth, udder and structural soundness, as well as overall disposition – all are factors that can determine whether or not to cull cows.”
Structurally Unsound
Cows with excessive tooth wear, for example, are candidates for culling because they may not be able to consume enough feed, and as Parish explained, causing them not to be a profitable cow for the herd. While cows who suffer from lameness often have, “decreased performance, decreased reproductive efficiency, weight loss and increased treatment costs,” Parrish explained. She wrote, “a study of five large western feedlots showed that lameness accounted for approximately $121 loss per lame animal,” and that, “many conditions can be the cause of lameness in cattle including foot rot, laminitis, joint injury and fescue toxicosis.”
Parrish also explained that the time to cull the cow is not an easy thing to determine. First, you should take into consideration if the problem is severe enough for immediate removal from the herd. If it isn’t then Parrish advised, “it often makes sense to wait until after nursing calves are weaned.”
Cunningham agreed. “Cows that have poor udders or too large of teats should also be considered for culling. Cows that are consistently thin, or have a hard time maintaining adequate body condition on your feed resources are good candidates for culling.
Poor Disposition
Disposition or docility is another good reason to cull. Disposition is a fairly heritable trait, said Cunningham, and therefore not only are producers putting up with the attitude of the cow, but the cow is also likely to pass on those genes to her calf, making it more difficult to handle and manage.
“Recently, I’m also seeing more interest in culling animals which fail to shed their winter hair coats on a timely basis in the spring or early summer, as these animals appear to have a bigger challenge dealing with our heat combined with our infected fescue pastures,” Cunningham said.
Culling and Profit
According to Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) Marketing Specialist, and Damona Doye, OSU’s Farm Management Specialist, “Cull animals represent 10-20 percent of total revenue for most cow-calf operations.” Peel and Doye stated that there are ways to optimize the “value of cull cows by 25 to 45 percent or more by improving cull cow management.” The ways to optimize this value are by “adding weight, improving the quality classification, and taking advantage of seasonal price patterns,” they wrote. They also suggest that while cull cow marketing is a valuable way to “increase profit per head,” farmers should still be careful when evaluating “cull cow grazing and feeding opportunities.”
There is a very useful spreadsheet tool for assisting producers in evaluating culling options and alternatives, and a link to it can be found at www.ozarksfn.com.
Good Records
Cunningham noted that keeping good records will help producers identify cows that are lousy producers and are the best candidates to cull. The cowherd needs to be looked upon as a true workforce where the least productive or most inefficient workers get a pink slip.
Cunningham said, “Having a good identification system along with good calving, breeding, weaning and marketing records will assist you in finding the poor producers and getting them off the payroll. Cull cow sales can be a big contributor to farm sales and should not be overlooked by producers.
“Recently, prices for cull cows and bulls have been extremely good, as a result of increased demand for ground beef and cheaper sources of red meat. The unique thing about cull cow prices is that producers typically have a good opportunity to put weight on these cows and not receive much discount in price for doing so.”
Cunningham also added, in agreeance with the OSU experts, producers that have thin cull cows and an abundance of feed resources this fall should strongly consider adding value to those cows by putting on additional weight and holding them for market until after the first of the year, when the supply of cows in the market drops and demand improves.
“For producers that have fall calving cow herds, one very viable option for these herds is to leave your bull in for an extended period through the winter to help ensure every cows breeds back. Then the following calving season, establish a “cut-off” date of, say November 1, where any cow that has not calved by that time will either be sold as a cow/calf pair, or as a late gestation cow, which are typically worth more money in the market place. As far as what a cull cow is worth, it’s variable, but understanding the seasonality of the cull cow markets is important,” Cunningham said.
The fall season is when many cows are culled, after weaning, and that usually corresponds to a drop in market price. Avoiding the seasonal lows is important to maximize cull cow values.
