Culling Payback

Braford cows are a hardy lot. In Texas, the popular mix is sometimes referred to as the "queen cow." She's productive and long-lived and she can be hard for a cattleman to let go.

Loy Moore and son, Mark, run a 180-head herd of these F1 Hereford/Brahman crosses at Livingston, Texas. They admit they hate to cull even one cow or heifer until it's a have-to situation. But Mark said after three years in Texas A&M's Beef Partnership in Extension Program (PEP), they developed a different perspective on what it means to cull.

"Honestly, we used to wait and cull after a cow was having problems. It wasn't the best system," Mark said.

Once the Moores started working with the PEP program coordinators, they began implementing cattle-management practices they had learned in beef short courses over the years but, for one reason or another, had never fully adopted. PEP changed all that by measuring their progress and working one-on-one with the family. The program provided specialists from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and the Moores committed to three years of working with the team, which included experts in forage, economics and animal health. The goal was a balanced, profitable cattle operation.

"One of the things we got focused on with PEP was the idea that we were spending the same money to keep a cow that wasn't producing as we were spending to keep one that was. They both eat the same," Mark explained. "Once we really built that philosophy into our management program, we got real serious about culling."

BUILDING A LEGACY

The Moore ranch is a first-generation operation built from the ground up by Loy. He started with 365 acres in 1992, added 820 acres in 1997 and picked up a few additional tracts as they became available. It was Loy's dream to build a place like this, having grown up as a sharecropper and working just 5 acres of land.

Stocking rates at the 1,200-acre ranch have been as high as 300, but the Moores dropped that in 2011 when drought put the pinch on their bahiagrass and bermudagrass pastures. They are holding stocking rates around 75% of capacity now.

"We decided we could stay under 200 cows, and when we had the extra grass, we could add stockers in to make up the difference when that worked for us," Mark said.

BALANCED CULLING

There's nothing wrong with being a little leery about culling cows in this market, said veterinarian Thomas Hairgrove, program coordinator for livestock and food animal systems with Texas A&M's AgriLife Extension. He worked with the Moores and said he always encourages producers to look at everything before making culling decisions. Hairgrove stresses you shouldn't be fixated on a number or the drive to bring more heifers into a herd.

"Sometimes people have a strategy that focuses on culling cows and keeping heifers, which makes sense. But there's more to it than that. You have to look at the whole thing. If you have a cow that has proven herself, and you have a heifer with no track record, you may be better off keeping that proven cow," he said.

Culling criteria varies with the operation and management goals. However, Hairgrove said one thing they've noted recently is that more cows and heifers should be culled based on poor udders and, in some cases, mastitis.

Udder quality is the key to raising and weaning a good calf, adds Ron Gill, livestock specialist, Texas AgriLife Extension. "Especially when we look at cows that have a Brahman influence, it's important to note the quality of calf they are raising. These cows will have a calf, but their teat conformation means they won't always raise a good calf. So look at the kind of calf a cow raises, not just whether she raises one."

In addition to udder and teat conformation, Gill and Hairgrove said there are more problems with mastitis in beef herds than many producers are willing to admit. When cows are weaning less than half their body weight, they may not be lactating out of all four quarters. Cows with mastitis should be on the cull list.

PRODUCTION ECONOMICS

Whatever the reason for their poor performance, it's important to note and track cows that aren't adding to management's goals. One focus for the Moores has been increasing net incomes per breeding female. Loy explains as part of the PEP program, Stan Bevers, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension economist, performs a Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) on the profit side of the business. An SPA looks at costs and production levels of cows, arriving at a break-even figure. This break-even price is what a producer must receive for his calves to cover costs.

Tracking the Moores' break-even cost as they went through a drought, culled and then saw their herd increase in overall productivity is a lesson in both perseverance and the ups and downs of ranching.

In their 2011 report (summarizing 2010 production / financials), break-even cost per weaned calf was $96.23 per cwt, and market price was $98.07 per cwt, netting the Moores $1.84 per cwt. In the 2012 report, which reflected the extreme drought conditions of the 2011 season, breakeven was $140.82 per cwt, and market price was $120.15 per cwt, netting a loss of $20.67 per cwt. The 2013 report marked a turning point for the operation. Break-even costs dropped to $86.77 per cwt because of a reduction in the cow herd's inventory and expenses, and market calves that weighed an average of 773 pounds. With prices at $127.86 per cwt, the Moores earned $41.09 on each cwt of weaned calf.

The latest figures show the ranchers continuing along a positive path, with a breakeven at $88.60 per cwt and a market price at $126.43 per cwt for a net of $37.83 per cwt. This time, data showed more typical weaning weights of 595 pounds on the average calf, but weaning percentages were up to 84.6%.

"Working with Dr. Hairgrove, we stopped thinking 'How can I get another year out of this cow?', and we starting thinking 'If I cull her and replace her with a productive cow, I'm money ahead,' " Mark said.

NO SECOND CHANCES

The "wait one more year" mindset is a common one. Producers want to give a cow one more chance. They've invested in her, and it's hard to walk away. And some people want numbers.

Hairgrove said it's easy to get stuck on having a certain number of cows. "But you're going to feed cows that have no, or a subpar, calf just like you feed the others. So it's important to make the smart, and sometimes hard, calls as we cull. Only keep back what is the best-performing, best environmental fit for the operation."

(VM/CZ)

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