Reproduction

The week of Thanksgiving is traditionally a time of thanks and turning in the bulls. Cow calf operations with fall-calving herds that target a late August, early September beginning to the calving season will put the bulls with the fall-calving cows now.

The end of the year is always a good time to evaluate the reproductive performance of a beef herd operation in order to assess efficiency, recognize what failed and identify how to improve in the upcoming year.

As the days get shorter and daytime high temperatures fall, many cattle operations are focused on weaning calves, making final preparations for the coming winter and the arrival of next year’s crop of calves.

The operation is also set to enter the most expensive part of the production cycle – feeding a cow through the winter.

This period in the production cycle can represent 60 to 70 percent of all production costs of an operation.

Bred replacement heifers that will calve in January and February need to continue to grow and maintain body condition. Ideally, 2-year-old heifers should be in a body condition score of “6” at the time that their first calf is born.

For most cattle producers, culling cows is not an easy task. However, some culling needs to be done each year to maintain optimal productivity.

Records on each cow’s yearly production would be beneficial when making culling decisions, but collecting information when cows are processed provides a good start.

Cattlemen should make it a point to evaluate all breeding females at least once a year. Weaning is likely the most convenient time to do this evaluation.

Beef quantity and quality importance are on the rise.

Feedlots, packing plants and end consumers are demanding higher-quality meat, which means there is a need for more efficient feeder calves.