Management
lifetimes, they averaged a 55%
yearly calf crop. Despite the
fact that reproduction is not
a highly heritable trait, it also
makes sense to remove this
genetic material from the herd
so as to not proliferate females
that are difficult to get bred.
2. Culling open heifers early
Certainly the percentage of open
heifers will vary from ranch to
ranch. Do not be concerned, if
after a good heifer development
program and adequate breeding
season, that you find that
10% of the heifers still are not
bred. Resist the temptation to
keep these open heifers and
“roll them over” to a fall-calving
herd. These are the very heifers
that you want to identify early
and remove from the herd. It
just makes good economic
business sense to identify and
cull non-pregnant replacement
heifers as soon as possible. I
will reduce summer forage
and winter costs. If the rancher
waits until next spring to
find out which heifers do not
calve, the pasture use and
winter feed expense will still
be lost and there will be no
calf to eventually help pay the
bills. This is money that can
better be spent in properly
feeding cows that are pregnant
and will be producing a salable
product the following fall.
3. Identifying the open
heifers shortly after (60 days)
the breeding season is over will
allow for marketing the heifers
while still young enough to go
to a feedlot and be fed for the
choice beef market. “B” maturity
carcasses (those estimated
to be 30 months of age or
older) are very unlikely to be
graded Choice and cannot be
graded Select. As a result, the
heifers that are close to two
years of age will suffer a price
discount. If we wait until next
spring to identify which two
year-olds did not get bred, then
we will be culling a female that
will be marketed at a noticeable
discount compared to the
price/pound that she would
have brought this summer
as a much younger animal.
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