Management
Efficiency and Cow-Calf Production
By Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension
Cow-calf producers use a variety of efficiency measures to help manage production systems. Many of these are technical efficiencies that capture physical measures of output and input use and range from very specific measures to more broad-based values that incorporate a range of production components. For example, pregnancy percentage focuses on breeding efficiency and highlights management of cow body condition and can indicate reproductive failures in cows and bulls. Calving percentage incorporates pre-natal calf mortality in additional to pregnancy percentage while weaning percentage adds calf mortality to calving percentage.
Weaning weights are a basic measure of productivity while pounds of calf weaned per exposed female is a much more robust measure of reproductive and nutritional efficiency. Better yet, pounds of weaned calf per acre also adds in forage management and stocking rate. Technical efficiency measures are very useful to monitor and manage particular components of production systems. However, excessive focus on technical measures, especially very narrow ones, can misdirect management attention.
Technical efficiency measures tend to emphasize maximums( such as weaning weights) or minimums( such as death loss). Often times, maximums and minimums are not optimal in terms of economic outcome. Data certainly shows, for example, that the most profitable cow-calf operations often do not have the highest weaning weights.
Economic efficiency measures go beyond technical efficiencies to include values of inputs and outputs as well. Economic efficiencies demonstrate that efficiency can change due to changes in output and / or input values even when physical
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