After the spring calves are weaned, they may be sold or moved into drylot for backgrounding; the remaining brood cows are checked for pregnancy and soundness. Any animal that is deemed unprofitable should be culled before the new year.

Not too long ago, their salvage value was only worth a few hundred dollars, but in today’s record-high market, even a half-blind, smooth-mouth and open cow is worth significant dollars. Consequently, people should make up a cull list to take advantage of this revenue stream, while also improving the integrity of their cow herd.

All mature cows, first-calf heifers or replacement females that cannot get pregnant or are open should top everyone’s cull list. Infertile cows simply cannot produce a money-making calf for next year. That is the strict opinion of my friend, who operates a 400-head Angus-Simmental cow herd.

I asked him if there were any exceptions to his number one rule of culling open cows. He replied that even if she were the best cow in the herd and was guaranteed to re-breed the next season, she is clearly a depreciated item:

• She did not give birth to a calf that generates his main income,
• She will then incur at least a $3 per day bill for overwinter feed and housing costs (200 days) or $600 of liability, and
• At least she is worth a few thousand dollars in today’s cull market.

The funny thing is that it might not be her fault in the first place. His story continues: much of his cow herd breeding season falls during the hottest days of summer and many cows (as well as breeding bulls) having suffered from heat-stress-related infertility.

My friend says it’s unfortunate, but these cows must be culled for cited economics — not to mention that he has no time, room or interest in creating a pregnant fall-calving herd.

Another producer I know operates a 250-head cow-calf operation, several hundreds of kilometres to the east of my first friend. He has similar views on culling infertile cows, but is ‘open’ (pun intended) to giving a handful of non-pregnant mature cows a second chance. He writes their ear tag number under a ‘maybe’ column on his cull list.

These ‘maybe’ candidates are healthy mature cows that have proven to be good nursing mothers in the past year that have turned out good 600-pound weaned calves by autumn. Given that she might eat $600 worth of overwinter feed until the next breeding season, this producer is willing to take a chance to successfully breed her next year to yield a feeder calf, which is worth nearly $4,000 ($650 per hundredweight) in today’s market.

These two friends sell their cull cows shortly before the end of the year. However, I met a third person who runs a 300-head Hereford crossbred operation and takes a slightly different approach.

He culls his cow herd twice a year. The first culls consist of about 30 open cows after the calves are weaned, and the second group is 15–20 individuals, put together within weeks after the calving season ends — hard calvers and cows that are breeding season stragglers. All cull cows are put in their own pen during an 80-day feeding program to gain 250 lb. and then sold at cull-cow prices.

All three beef producers above cull cows due to infertility; however, there are secondary reasons why brood cows might be sold. Some of these reasons are:

• Old age. As brood cows reach 10 years, their bodies break down, worn-down teeth (smooth-mouth), teats and udders collapse, uterine infections and general lameness are inevitable. They are more susceptible to disease.
• Poor nursing cows. Cows with poor milk production (which translates into poor growing calves) should be culled. One obvious goal of most commercial herds is to maximize total saleable weaned weight of their annual calf crop.
• Rough calvers. Some cows seem to have several hard-calving seasons — a calf has to be pulled or the cow has a prolapsed vagina, retained placenta, milk-fever or serious uterine infections.
• Poor cow health. Some cows are more susceptible to health challenges compared to other cows. Cows with a contagious disease or identified as disease carriers should be removed. Cows with chronic health problems might be culled.

Regardless on the reasons that any cow is culled from its herd, I believe there is at least a 10-15 per cent cull rate on most cow-calf operations.

All of these culls should be replaced by a young, healthy, good milking and promising mother — namely, a bred first-calf replacement female. Soon, she should give birth to a strong, good-growing spring calf, which is sold the following fall as a heavyweight money-maker.

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There might be many reasons that beef cows are culled, but on top of most cull lists is open cows. After all, it’s the lifeblood of all generating cow-calf revenue and profits — all cows should be pregnant by 80-90 days after calving so that they drop a calf at the same time every year. Straggler cows that often breed/calve outside a tight breeding/calving season are also potential cull candidates. They tend to upset the perennial generation of weaned calves of uniform size and heavier weights that translate into more income for the operation.

I asked a long-time producer who operates a 400 Angus/Simmental cow herd if there were any exceptions to the rule of culling an open cow. He said that even if it were the best cow of the herd and was guaranteed to rebreed next season, she is clearly a depreciated item, because: 

1. She did not give birth to a calf that generates one cent of saleable revenue; 

2. She will then incur at least a $3/per day bill for overwinter feed and housing costs (200 days) or a $600 liability; and 

3. Still retains a current attractive cull value, which allows good replacement bred heifers of less market value to enter the herd.

Even though being open might not be the fault of the cow in the first place, this producer stood by his culling guidelines. For example, since much of this producer’s cow herd breeding season falls during the hottest days of summer, many apparent infertile cows (as well as breeding bulls) might actually suffer from heat stress-related infertility. My friend says it’s unfortunate, but these cows must be culled.

Age takes a toll

Aside from open cows, culling old cows out of the herd is another good reason. That’s because healthy and fertile beef cows have a viable reproductive life of about seven to eight years. Overall fertility slips by 10 years, and steeply declines after 12. Furthermore, as young cows become old cows, their bodies slowly break down; teeth become broken and worn down, and periodic digestive upsets take their toll on nutrient uptake. Teats and udders collapse for good milk production, plus uterine disorders increase and repeat themselves. General lameness becomes more frequent.

Whether to sell off these open and old beef cows immediately or put them in a drylot to gain a couple of hundred pounds is based on pure economics as illustrated in the attached spreadsheet.

The parameters are based upon: (1) feed mature beef cows (1,300 lbs.) in to gain 200 lbs. in 60 days, (2) feed them a typical beef cull cow diet, (3) cull feed efficiency = 10 lbs. dm diet/lb. gain or ADG = 3.23 lb/head/d (4) yardage = $0.50/head/day and (5) breakeven cull cow selling price is based on live bodyweight.

  As a matter of personal management, the above cow-calf operator sold a truckload of old cull cows during late summer and received $1.28 – $1.33/lb. for his 1,400-lb. cull cows. I expect the value of the cull market in November/December might drop since a significant volume of cull cows traditionally enters the market. The spreadsheet might dictate that the best time to sell cull cows is still within a couple of weeks of the upcoming weaning season.

Despite any marketing opportunities for cull cows, there is usually about 15 to 20 per cent of the cows in most cow herds that should be culled. Therefore, producers should always make good decisions based on their pure economic status; eliminate or cull cows that don’t make a profit, and keep the majority of cows that do.

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It’s one of the areas in cattle production where producers need to be particularly aware of animal welfare issues that include decisions about not culling, shipping or putting down cull cows when it becomes necessary.

We all need to have a plan for getting rid of cull cows. If we keep them for any length of time, there may be ways to get more growth and productivity out of them. However, we also need to recognize some cows are of the age or have conditions where the best management decision is to ship them early.

Decisions as to transportability must sometimes be made, and this is even more relevant with thin, multiple-lactation dairy cows for the beef market. In some areas of the country, dairy animals become beef animals, as in the case of dairy bull calves and cull dairy cows, and they make their way into the beef market. This is where co-operative crossover between dairy and beef producers will go a long way to strengthen both industries.

It’s important to start with a plan as to when and why to cull cows. I think many producers need to monitor cows’ age, productivity and longevity. This may mean that by a specific age a cow needs culling, regardless of if pregnant or not.

Some producers may have a select group of cows that is kept because reproduction is good but the calf is destined to be adopted to a younger cow at calving, so she becomes a surrogate on her last calving and culled right after that.

We all have a rough idea of the number of reproductive culls we will have each year based on the previous year’s open rate. The number of culls due to open cows will be quite variable, but usually in the five to 10 per cent range.

When saving replacement heifers, one must remember to keep common percentages in mind. Most producers keep the top 50 per cent of their heifer calves, which is 25 per cent of all the calves born. When one considers all the reasons for culling along with death loss in the herd, it is pretty common that close to 20 per cent of the cows are gone every year.

Culling due to lameness

Culling for lameness/arthritis may reduced if more attention is paid to hoof care trimming when necessary. Lame animals must be managed properly when culling. A producer needs to decide whether to keep them on feed and treat the ailment until the animal can be shipped, or ship for humane and compensation reasons. Some conditions will continue to get worse so immediate slaughter is the way to go. On-farm butchering may be an option.

Many options are available but until you are certain, hold off on treatment with veterinary drugs to avoid any residue issues.

After reproduction issues, lameness is the second most common reason for culling. Producers have realized that with proper trimming and examination of feet, many conditions can be successfully treated. There are many good trimmers and we need to utilize them better. They can add longevity into the herd, discover problems and many lamenesses that can be treated if discovered early.

With proper treatment of foot rot, hoof cracks, ulcers and sole abscesses, many animals can remain in the herd. Some farms have hoof trimming tables on site but many a lame cow is shipped because examination and the appropriate treatment associated with a good trim was not initiated. If animals are not going to be treated, then ship the earlier the better before weight loss and other health issues arise.

When the decision to ship is made, it is important to check the market. Old cows that are generally in good shape can just be shipped. But in other cases, a producer might find younger animals may render a greater profit by being fed out.

Larger producers often will work with someone else who markets cull cows. Many animals that are fed for a while will benefit from an implant program. Some youthful cows may fit into being recipients for an embryo transplant program, but health status will need to be checked for such things as Johnes disease and making sure their reproductive vaccination status is up to date.

If cows are open simply because there was a very tight window for breeding and they are youthful, they may fit into another usage but for sure would feed out nicely.

If a producer is unsure about the age of an animal, check its teeth. Bovines get all their permanent incisors by five. If permanent teeth are missing, the animal is likely more than 10 years old. By observing wear on the teeth and root exposure one can get a pretty accurate estimate of age. There are easily available charts to look at.

Checking age is extremely important on purchased cows but also on ones where ear tags have gone missing.

Cull cows can be an important extra income source and are worth looking after for both animal welfare and economic considerations — it all goes hand in hand. 

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