Estimated annual maintenance costs of a mature cow range from $500 to $550 and these expenses must be recovered from the value of her weaned calf to stay in the cattle business.
Determine the problem
"Before culling a non-productive cow, it is important to determine if she is the problem," said veterinarian Mike Wirtz, a rancher in Brenham. "Good nutritional and health programs must be executed so that both bulls and cows will breed. All bulls should receive breeding soundness exams each year before they are put with the cows. Bulls, shown to be infertile, should be sold."
Bruce Carpenter, AgriLife Extension livestock specialist at Fort Stockton, said annual calving requires controlled breeding seasons.
"When calving season is too long, management is more difficult and many cows will not calve each year. Shorter calving seasons make the bottom line better because herd management expenses and marketing income can be better controlled."
Cows are pregnant for about 285 days a year, Carpenter said.
"There is not much time left for reproductive tract recovery and subsequent rebreeding. If cows are to calve every 12 months, the calving season can be no longer than 80 days per year. Thus, a breeding season of 80 days creates an 80-day calving season the following year followed by another 80-day breeding season," Carpenter said.
Reasons for culling
Rigorous culling is necessary for moving a herd into an 80-day breeding period. High fertility cows with good nutrition will breed within the 80-day period and low fertility cows may not. With year-round breeding it is hard to identify low fertility cows because you don't know exactly when they are bred.
By pregnancy testing after a defined breeding period, the open cows can be identified and culled to decrease capital expense.
"A cow not only needs to be culled for her inability to calve annually, but she should also be evaluated on ease of calving, milk production and the size of calf she weans," said Joe Paschal, livestock specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension at Corpus Christi. "I like to see a high calving ease score, but a light birth weight. Big calves can cause calving problems. Calving ease score indicates a cow's ability to have a calf or the ability of a calf to be born."
When culling cows, keep those with average milk production, Paschal said.
"Cows that are average in milk production produce a lot of milk in wet years and enough milk in dry years to raise a good calf. Keep cows that wean the right-sized calf to maximize profit. The heaviest calves are not always the best. As calves become larger, average milk production of a herd tends to increase. Higher milk production leads to increased maintenance costs that may not be recovered by the added weight of the calf," Paschal said.
In addition to culling poor-producing cattle, sell cows with flawed conformation because these characteristics will be passed to offspring.
Calves with poor conformation have less value. Sell old cows before they lose their teeth, decline in body condition and become non-productive.
Obtain the best value
"Informed marketing, rather than simply selling, can add to cull-cow income," said Ron Gill, Livestock specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service in College Station. "In an average year, culled cows represent 10 to 20 percent of the gross revenue. Factors affecting value are sale weight, body condition, muscling, quality and blemishes, all of which can be managed at the ranch to derive more cow value. Cull cow value is based on percent lean meat yield and live weight.
"Add weight to thin cull cows before selling," Gill said. "This is particularly valuable when cows are at a 3 body condition score or lower at culling. Adversely, sell cows before they become too fat and reach 8 and 9 body condition scores.
"Consider cull cows as a valuable asset and handle them as such. Bruising is a major problem with cull cows. Most bruises are caused by rough handling and hauling from the time they are sorted at the ranch until they are processed at the point of sale," he added.
* Robert Fears is a freelance writer and ranch management consultant.