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Making the most of marketing your calves

published: October 16th 2009
by: Martha Hollida Garrett

It’s fall, which means weaning and marketing for most cow-calf producers. It also means payday. Getting the most for your product is critical and there are five management practices that can help producers increase the dollars in that paycheck.
    Dr. Rich Machen, with Texas AgriLife outlines practices that producers can implement in their programs to add value to their calf crops.
Increase Age At Weaning
    Generally age and weight are directly related and older calves weigh more. Cowmen have two options to accomplish this goal, they can wean at an older age or work to increase the number of calves born earlier in the calving season.
    Machen says that the industry standard for weaning is seven months. In most production environments, cows need at least a 75-day dry period to recover, increase body condition and prepare for the upcoming parturition. Allowing calves to remain on the cow past 7-8 months puts undue nutrient stress on the cow and pressure on the forage resource. Weaning at an older age is not the emphasis. If retention of calves beyond eight months of age is warranted, wean and pasture them separate from the cowherd.
    Research has demonstrated that early born calves grow significantly faster from birth to weaning and weigh more at weaning than calves born later in the season.
Breed For A
Marketable Phenotype
    “No one breed maximizes or optimizes the 3 M’s: maternal, muscle and marbling,” emphasizes Machen.
    He advises producers to study their market, visit with local marketing professionals and try to produce the type/kind of cattle preferred by buyers in their region.
    Kim Hagan, owner of Hallettsville Livestock Auction, Hallettsville, Texas is one of those professionals. Hagan advises producers to use high quality bulls that have solid and marketable EPDs, which will increase the quality, conformation, uniformity and weight, which will increase the bottom line.
    Machen also points out that whether justified or not, hair color is an initial indicator of value. Preferred colors include black, black with white or mottled face, red, yellow and gray. Less favorable colors include brindle, paints, line backs, skunk backs, spotted and speckled.
    Uniformity equates to greater marketing opportunities and producers should sort their calves in to groups (three head or more) of like kind, quality.
Castrate And Dehorn
    “To many calves are left intact in Texas when they are sold at the sale barn,” says Machen.
    The results of a study conducted in Arkansas in 2005 indicated a $6.27 /cwt difference between bull and steer calves.
    Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) material says that castration of young (less than 90 days old) calves is the best management practice and as weight increases, the discount for bull calves or yearling increases.
    Polled or dehorned feeder cattle are preferred over horned calves/yearling. In a two-year Oklahoma study involving over 10,000 steer and 11,000 heifer calves, dehorned or polled calf price were higher than their horned counterparts. The horned steers calves sold at $3/cwt less and heifers sold for $1.82/cwt less than their polled or dehorned counterparts.
Adding Growth Implants
    Growth promoting implants are proven to be both safe and effective. Several implants are approved for use in nursing calves, both steers and heifers. Implanting nursing calves once will increase daily weight gain 0.10 lb for steer calves and 0.12 lb for heifers. Implanting heifers once between two months of age and weaning does not adversely affect reproduction in heifers eventually selected to be replacements. The remaining heifers will be heavier at weaning.
    However, if heifers will be retained or marketed for replacements, they should not be implanted as nursing calves. There is no advantage to implanting heifers kept for replacement and there is a market bias against heifers that have been implanted.
Deworm Spring-born Nursing Calves
    Clinical trials conducted by TAMU veterinarians over a 20-year period demonstrate that treating spring-born nursing calves will increase weaning weights. In 11 of 12 trials, weaning weights were greater in treated calves. The weight advantage varies from eight to 46 pounds with an average of 25 pounds per calf. Calves reared by younger dams showed the greatest response.
Value Added Programs
    The emergence of value added programs have provided an opportunity for producers to target specific programs and the potential to receive an increased price per pound for cattle marketed through these programs. Examples of value added programs are VAC 45, VAC 34, VAC 24, NHTC (non hormone treated cattle) natural, organic, Certified Angus Beef.
    Long-term analysis of market prices for cattle marketed through Sup-erior Livestock Auction show programs like the VAC 45, VAC 34 are $7.35 and $33.4 /cwt higher re-spectively than fresh wean-ed unvaccinated calves.
    Producers should study the benefits and costs of these programs and make sure they understand the requirements, completely. Plus make sure you have the management and facilities in place to mitigate the risk factors and only participate in the programs if marketing opportunities are readily available to capture the increased value.
Shrink
    “There are several ways to decrease shrink in your calves.  The best is to wean your calves several weeks before marketing, if possible.  Another way is to get your calves to the market early so they have time to fill up before they sell, “ says Hagan.
    Producers can see as much as 10 percent less in their pay weight because of shrink if calves do not know how to eat or drink when weaned.   

Twenty ways
to wean more
pounds of beef
By W. L. Singleton and
L. A. Nelson;
Department of
Animal Sciences,
Purdue University
    The cow's gestation period averages 282 days but ranges from 278 to 292 days. After calving, the cow usually will not recycle for 45 to 60 days. This means she only has an average of 23 days to cycle and conceive if she is to calve every 12 months (282 + 60 + 23 = 365 days).
    Your goal as a cow-calf producer is to wean a heavy calf from every cow each year. To achieve this, you must have a practical management program that will result in high fertility from your cowherd. Following these 20 management steps will help insure a higher net percent calf crop and thereby help you achieve maximum income from your herd.
    * Use an identification system and keep records. Good herd management begins with an animal identification system for record keeping. Records are important when it's time to select replacements and cull low producing animals.
    * Provide handling facilities. Adequate handling facilities are necessary for such practices as performance testing, vaccination, identification, sorting, pregnancy testing, and medical or other treatment.
    * Design a health/management program. You and your veterinarian should outline a health/management program tailor-made for your herd, locality, and market. Schedule and maintain appropriate times for vaccination, castration, controlling parasites, weighing calves, and pregnancy testing in your herd.
    * Properly use growth-promoting implants. Weaning weights of steer calves can be increased as much as 30 pounds if you use growth-promoting implants during the suckling period. Bull or heifer calves kept or sold for breeding purposes should not be implanted.
    * Don't creep feed potential replacement heifers. Cows creep-fed as calves give less milk than those not creep-fed. This decreased milk production may result in lighter weaning weights of their calves each year of the cow's life. Possible exceptions to this "rule"' are when drought conditions exist or if the cows are on a fall-calving program.
    * Develop replacement heifers properly. Weaned replacement heifers should be separated from the steers. Medium-framed heifers should gain about 1 to 1.25 pounds per day and weigh about 700 pounds at 14 - 15 months. Large-framed heifers may gain 1.50 pounds per day and should weigh 800 pounds at breeding time at 14 - 15 months. Heifers managed this way should be in optimum condition to conceive early in their first breeding season.
    * Breed heifers to calve two weeks prior to the cowherd. Yearling heifers should be exposed to bulls, or AI, two weeks before breeding the cowherd. This means they will calve early their first year, allowing more individual attention at calving. Early-calving heifers also will tend to calve early throughout their lifetime.
    * Use crossbreeding. A crossbred cow will help increase total pounds of calves weaned from a herd by 10 - 20% or more. Crossbred cows usually wean both more and heavier calves than straight-bred cows. But, be aware that some crossbreds require a higher management level, especially those with greater milk potential.
    * Use judgment when selecting a bull. Give consideration to the breed and type of bull used to breed yearling heifers. For AI, use semen from superior sires; for natural service, buy performance-tested bulls. Use birth weight and calving ease Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs) to guide you in bull selection.
    * Purchase bulls early. Buy a bull early when selection is the best. Select one that is physically sound, performance tested, has EPDs, and been evaluated for breeding soundness. Having the bull on your farm 45 - 60 days prior to the breeding season provides a period of adjustment, and allows him to overcome any fertility problems encountered during shipment or change in feeding program.
    * Evaluate semen and breeding soundness. Have a semen and breeding soundness evaluation performed on all bulls 60 to 90 days before the breeding season. Replace sterile bulls and those with low breeding soundness scores.
    * Provide adequate bull power. Provide one yearling bull for each 15 -20 cows and one mature bull for each 25 - 30 cows. Breeding bulls should be in good flesh condition, but not fat. If foot trimming is required, do it at least two weeks before breeding.
    * Shorten the breeding season. Shorten the breeding season each year until all your calves are born in a short period of time (60 - 75 days), resulting in a much easier to manage and more uniform calf crop. The calving season can be shortened by culling open cows and those that conceive late in the breeding season.
    * Observe breeding pastures frequently. Remove hazardous materials from the area that may cause injury to the bull. Watch for and record cows in heat; make sure that the bull is breeding these cows.
    * Pregnancy test cows. Cows can be pregnancy-tested when their calves are weaned 4 - 5 months after the start of the breeding season. With experience, pregnancy can be detected as early as 35 - 45 days after conception. Besides weaning at this time, weighing, worming, grub control, vaccination, and identification can also be done. Cost of pregnancy testing will vary, depending on number of cows and handling facilities. Remember, carrying an open cow for a year is much more costly than the few dollars spent on pregnancy testing.
    * Have cows in moderate to good body flesh condition at calving. The major reason for cows becoming thin is inadequate nutrition. During the last one third of gestation cows in average body flesh condition need 10 - 12 pounds of Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) and 1.5 - 1.75 pounds of crude protein. Separate thin cows from the herd and feed additional TDN so that they will be in moderate condition when they calve. Also, don't forget to provide Vitamin A, salt, and a high phosphorous (8%+) mineral mix. Proper nutrition prior to calving improves calf vigor, milk production of the cow, and reduces the number of days from calving to rebreeding.
    * Separate the two-year olds. Two-year-old heifers often suffer from competition at the feed bunk if fed with mature cows. Separation from older cows also makes it easier to observe calving.
    * Be prepared and closely observe the herd at calving. Have available: clean, well-lighted maternity pens, pulling chains, disinfectant, calf respirator, disposable gloves, calf puller and halter. Observe cows at least twice while they are calving. Check with your veterinarian for advice on when to assist the cow and when to call him. You can save many calves by providing prompt assistance. Saving three more calves in a 30-cow herd is nearly equal to adding an additional 50 pounds of weaning weight to every calf in the herd.
    * Keep birth weight and calving-ease records. These records will help identify the bulls and cows responsible if problems occur. Refer to your records when selecting herd replacements as well as when selecting bulls for breeding yearling heifers.
    * Separate cows that have calved and increase their feed. Pregnant cows are easier to observe if separated from cows that have calved. Energy and protein requirements of a lactating cow are well above those of a dry, pregnant cow. A lactating cow should receive about 12 - 15 pounds of TDN and 2.0 - 2.5 pounds of protein each day. Requirements are higher for superior milk producers.
SLS