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Hosted by members of the University of Minnesota Extension Beef and Dairy Teams, The Moos Room discusses relevant topics to help beef and dairy producers be more successful. The information is evidence-based and presented as an informal conversation between the hosts and guests.
Welcome to The Moo's Room. It's hard to believe that it's November already, November second today. And I'm actually off, uh, in, in Sweden learning about Swedish dairy cattle and speaking about some of our cross-breeding research, and we'll talk about a trip vlog, I guess, as when I get back. But we're still grazing in Minnesota yet.
I still have some heifers out November second, and I have this beautiful cover crop field that was planted with oats and kale and radish and turnips and all kinds of different stuff, and we have about 25 acres of that, so we're gonna be grazing at least our heifers for a while yet, at least a couple more weeks.
And they're on virtual fencing, so it's kind of good to still see that things are happening and we're still grazing. No snow yet, although we had a few flakes one day here in Western Minnesota. But I wanted to discuss something that's always on my mind and something that I think about in the management of our dairy, and that's cow
And I want to think about
And I wanna talk about something that's always been on my mind, and that's cow culling and when to cull cows and whether you should feed them a little bit longer to get more money. And there was an interesting study that just came out that really discussed this, and I've had conversations with people for many years about cull- culling and when you should cull them and, uh, all that that goes around that.
So Basically, this study looked at should we feed our cows longer, put more body condition on them, and then cull them versus shipping them directly when they're ready to go? I think this study was done, uh, with the Canadian cow in mind, but it's really fitting anywhere in the world when we talk about culling, uh, animals.
So let's dive into this study and see what they really found So it says that roughly 30 to 40% of dairy cows in Canada are removed from herds due to low fertility, low milk production, and other health challenges. And we see that no matter where we go. Those are the big three reasons why cows get culled.
And when these animals leave the farm, they actually enter a, what we call multi-stage marketing pipeline that leads to either livestock auctions, processing facilities, and you name it. However, some of these animals enter the system in, I would say, a severely compromised physical condition, maybe lack of body condition.
They have health challenges. They're not feeling well, and so you're running them through auctions and facilities and not really doing the cow any good. Basically, this field research revealed that 10% of market cows in British Columbia and over 40% in Ontario arrive at livestock markets very thin, basically having a body condition score of 2.0 or less.
Now, that's alarming that cows are being shipped with low body condition like that. It's, uh, definitely not doing any good for the cows. So basically, for dairy farmers, shipping thin cows creates an economic loss, really. Poor body condition triggers substantial market price discounts, and it leads to downgraded carcasses at slaughter.
And we've seen that in some of ours. We have some skinnier cows here that we've shipped and, you know, if it's like they're having some health challenges or Johne's disease, and we do ship them as well. And yes, you get much lower value for that cow than what you really should. So this reality that we see in many places around the world kind of presents a fundamental question for modern dairy farms.
Is it best to ship these cows directly or retain them and feed them on the farm for 60 days, so another couple months to rebuild their body condition and weight? So they did some economic modeling that structured a 60-day feeding program that really can help improve f- profitability and improve animal care
So takeaway number one, basically you've turned a low body condition cow into a high financial return. So they did some modeling, uh, that demonstrates that a 60-day non-lactating period, period, so to, to dry the cow off, that made a body condition score go from 2.0 to 3.0, actually generated substantial net returns for the farm.
So basically they modeled a body condition score of 2.0, slaughter weight of 700 kilos, so a little over 1400 pounds. They fed them for 60 days, now went to a one point increase in body condition score, about 817 kilos or close to 1700 pound carcass weight. So an increase of 250 pounds
And basically increased market price. So they basically increased on a per kilo basis thirty four more cents per kilo in that cow. Gross value Canadian dollar six hundred and sixty-four more dollars per cull cow by retaining that cow for sixty days and then feeding them and then increasing body condition score
And basically they, they accounted for, you know, feed expenses, yardage cost, you know, mastitis prevention, because obviously you're probably gonna dry that cow up, maybe treat her if she has mastitis. There's obviously some inherent disease risk that can happen that causes increased cost. Obviously, there's a mortality risk, because you could assume that 4% of those cows or more might die.
So you have to account for that. So basically, there was some expenses, if you consider that, about $440. Well, so what's the, the bottom line profit? Increased profit per head, $222. And so that's pretty substantial. If you can make 200 more bucks on that cow by feeding her for 60 days, I think that's a win-win for everybody So the other kind of takeaway was why timing and initial body condition are everything.
Basically, the economic model demonstrated the maximum benefit to cost ratio is one point nine, and it's achieved when cows enter this scenario at a low body weight and body condition score two point oh, and feed costs are low. Obviously, feed costs drive all of this, and you have to do your own calculations based on feed costs to see what would happen.
But that is the crucial thing is that this is for cows that have skinny body condition, low body condition scores before market, and maybe you should keep them around and feed them out
So obviously there's some sensitivity analysis with this. So basically You have to think about TMR feeding and whether that's a control, you know, what the feed cost is, because sometimes it doesn't work financially to do that, to keep those cows around for 60 days. And you also have to think about the market.
Obviously, varying market prices. If you attempt to feed cows from 2.25 to 3.0 body condition score And if the market value drops, then you generate a financial loss. So that's the big thing to take into account, and you have to think about that into the future. You know, what is the economics of the cull cow?
What is the feed cost? So basically, the sensitivity analysis that they did showed the greatest benefit to cost ratio in feeding cows from a low body condition score when the cost of a lactating cow TMR was low. So there's limited value in feeding better conditioned cows. So this really highlights the potential importance of early replacement decisions to capture optimum market value before body condition score goes too low.
So basically that's telling us that this only works when body condition score is really low and you try to increase body condition score and body weight to get a better price. If the cows are already at three point zero, you're not gonna gain anything by keeping that cow around for another sixty days because of increased TMR cost and potential market fluctuations in cull cows
So the other takeaway here was, well, how can we feed these cows? And I think the suggestion was using TMR refusals kind of helped unlock that maximum profitability. So the f-- basically, this study really relied mostly on controlling the ration cost. So rather than feeding a high-cost fresh cow lactating diet, it really relied on using farm feed refusals for this.
So this 60-day program was really structured around two nutritional and management phases. One of is dry off and a transition phase, so kind of the first 14 days. So basically, cows are pa-placed on a dry cow diet, straw, corn silage, haylage, dry cow supplement, about 15 kilos of dry matter a day. And then they had a finishing phase where they're moved to a high energy finishing ration similar to the lactating cow diet and increased dry matter intake.
And you did that for the last six weeks But it also incorporates these high lactating cow TMR refusals. So what basically the cows didn't eat in your lactating ration, those can be fed back to these dry cull cows to help them increase body weight Obviously, you have to think about the dry off period when you're doing this.
You have high producers, so you have to transition them basically to stop milking. And you can obviously move those to a different facility, milk them once a day, treat them with antibiotics, uh, if you want, and then you transfer them to this market cow pen. The low producers, you probably really don't need to do much.
You can dry them off if you want, give them antibiotics, and then really transfer them right to the market cow group. So it really depends on the production of these cows and what you're going to get from them So it basically, this pre-feeding really helped condition these cows for better animal welfare.
So it certainly, feeding these market dairy cattle before shipping them and culling them presented an opportunity to improve animal welfare and help increase fitness for transportation because, you know, sometimes these animals are moving in Lots of different places there in overcrowded facilities.
They're transported many different times, could be on different trucks all over the place. So it is most definitely beneficial to have increased animal welfare and increased conditions so they can survive these kind of bottlenecks in the system
The other issue that was brought up was, okay, there's this hidden risk, and that's mortality or death. Obviously, despite this study showing that there's financial benefits and welfare benefits, obviously it carries inherent risk because of, of death. So this economic model had a baseline of 4% mortality, and basically mortality forfeits the cow $2,000 right now, depending on, on the market and accumulated feed costs.
You basically wipe out the profits for five additional cows. So one cow wipes out the profits for five cows. So really you only should be looking at physically sound cows that are free from chronic infections, advanced metabolic illnesses, or severe lameness. So also should be, you know, kind of looking at these cows to see what they look like before you put them into this program, and that's really where you gain the profitability.
So what about looking forward? Well, so strategic pre-culling feeding represents some economic value and animal welfare for the farm. So by retaining these thin market cows, so 2.0 body condition score or less for 60 days really helped recondition them. You use feed refusals from the lactating cow herds, and you can really turn these vulnerable, really sick looking cows that get low market value and capture an additional 200 plus dollars per head.
But obviously it requires looking at these cows beforehand. So you have to select good cows, control the feed, maintaining regular transportation compliance, and basically avoid overcrowding of your facilities to help gain this. And if you think about all of this, basically you can help really improve the profitability of these animals.
So here's recommendations. Obviously target selection for pre-culling feeding. So that's looking at cows, sound cows, less than body condition score of two
Cows that are greater than 2.25 body condition score, really the pre-culling feeding provided minimal economic value. So basically, producers should keep these animals earlier in their production decline rather than retaining them on feed Obviously, you want to ensure you have designated housing available because this will have to have dedicated pens for this, and don't retain these cattle just to compromise space, feeding headlocks, stall access for the other cows in your herd.
And then you wanna leverage feed refusals. Use those from the lactating cow herd to help benefit the economic value. So I found this study quite interesting, and I think about it all the time. You know, you look at cows and go, "Oh, well, can I make more money if I hold them for a little bit longer, put some more weight on?"
And we've done that here as well. We've maintained some cows a little bit longer and got a better price at market. So I think there's lots of things to think about when you're looking at culling cows and how to increase market value of your animals. So with that, I think we'll leave it there for today, and if you have any comments, questions, or scathing rebuttals, feel free to contact me at The Moose Room.
That's T-H-E M-O-O-S-R-O-O-M @umn.edu, or find us on the web, University of Minnesota Livestock Extension, or UMN WCROC Dairy. And with that, I hope you have a great week. Bye.