Keep or Cull

By Becky Mills
Progressive Farmer Contributing Editor

Today's cattle market has caused Norman and Lee Amonett to rethink their ideas about culling. "I'd rather have a late calf than an open cow," Norman said. The Byrdstown, Tenn., producer points to a nearby nursing bull calf as he explains: "We can sell him for $3,000 at 15 months. His dam will be a profitable cow for us even though she was six months late calving."

Admittedly, those are Angus purebred prices. But Norman and son, Lee, said the same holds true for their commercial calves. In late July, one load of fall- and spring-born preconditioned steers averaging 675 pounds brought $243.50 per cwt, or $1,643 a head. Another load, with each steer averaging 794 pounds, brought $216 per cwt, or $1,715 a head.

A few years back, the Amonetts' logic about open cows would have made some people shudder. The long-held recommendation has been to put wheels under any cow that comes up open after a 60- or 90-day breeding season. That was before replacements hit record prices.

"I'm not an economist, but replacing a productive cow with a heifer is a really expensive thing to do now," said Mark Thallman, research geneticist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service's Meat Animal Research Center (MARC), in Clay Center, Neb. "Obviously, producers have to do it at times, but if we can keep it to a minimum, it can have a big impact on profitability."

Kenny Burdine, economist with the University of Kentucky, said the market has shifted paradigms for a lot of people in the cattle business. Bred heifers in his area are selling for $2,000 to $2,500 each; culls are bringing $1,000 to $1,300.

SPLIT SEASONS HELP

One way to turn late calving into an advantage is to move toward split-calving seasons. Burdine said that even in today's market, holding an open cow over for a whole year is hard to advocate. Cash costs in Kentucky come in at $450 to $550, not including labor, depreciation or overhead.

"That's too expensive," Thallman agreed. "On the other hand, rolling a cow over six months makes a lot of sense. You can feed the dry, open cows the lower-quality forage on your place, while the wet cows and the bred cows have higher priority."

He added that if cows in that open group lose, or do not regain, body condition after weaning a calf, they should be checked carefully with an eye toward culling. He recommends holding open cows in a separate group to manage them and make the right cull decisions.

The Amonetts calve 325 of their 400 Angus cows in September, October and November. The remainder calve in February, March and April. These schedules are tailor-made for salvaging heifers that don't breed back right away for that second calf.

"Our heifers calve at 24 months," Norman said.

"We do everything on forage after weaning. If she raised a good calf, it isn't uncommon for her to not breed right back. A 2-year-old is shedding her teeth about the time she's calving. Her mouth is sore, and she can get milked down. We could have three or four open out of 30 head."

Those new dams will get a chance to calve the following February rather than in September or October. They only get one pass. If they don't breed back in time to make the fall calving date, they are cut from the herd.

The Amonetts said the additional calving season gives them an advantage on the bull side of their business.

They sell the majority of their bulls in December, at 14 to 17 months old, but said it's less expensive to bring along a bull calf born in February. The fall-born bull calf costs them $700 to $750 to carry from weaning to 15 months. The bull born in February, however, spends less time out of the womb and off of the teat before he's sold. Norman said, "It costs less for the cow to carry him ... than it does for the farm to carry him."

CULLING BY AGE

Holding a young cow over for six months makes economic sense, but MARC's Thallman said that logic doesn't carry over to older cows. In the Amonetts' herd, a 6- or 10-year-old that misses a calf has to go. Because they are purebred producers, Norman said even an older open cow will bring $1,500.

THE HERITABILITY QUESTION

Short-term economics aside, traditional wisdom says not culling all females who fail to breed in a defined breeding season hurts genetics. Thallman disagreed.

"The heritability of having a cow pregnant at the end of the breeding season is pretty low, around 5 to 10%. You can't make that much genetic progress with a lowly heritable trait," he said.

The way to make genetic progress for fertility is to use national genetic evaluations for fertility, commonly known as EPDs (expected progeny differences). Producers who emphasize those evaluations in their purchasing decisions will make more progress than they would by culling cows, Thallman explained.

Lee Amonett agreed. He said the family has kept heifer calves from cows that were late calving, and they have seen no evidence of the trait being passed on. Environment and nutrition, he added, are probably as important in calving rates as genetics.

Eighty percent of the Amonetts' calf crop is born within a 75-day window. Last year, 250 calves arrived in a 45-day period between September 15 and November 1.

"Most of our 9-year-old cows had their eighth calf this past fall," Norman said. "If it took another turn with the bull when she was younger, so be it. There is a real good chance she'll be productive the rest of her life."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Most breed organizations publish a list of EPDs, which can be used to select for any number of genetic characteristics. To search for Angus cattle EPDs, visit www.angus.org/Animal/EpdPedSearch.aspx.

(VM/CZ)

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