The Angus Journal® is a monthly magazine known for in-depth coverage of American Angus Association® programs and services; the Angus business; herd management; and advertising reflecting genetics and herd philosophies.
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July 2015 n ANGUSJournal n 55 slaughter cows should not be considered a byproduct of the beef industry. They yield more than ground beef. Still, demand for ground beef is a huge infuence on slaughter- cow value. Cattlemen's College presenter Daryl Tatum, a Colorado State University meat scientist, emphasized that point. "Today's slaughter-cow market is strongly driven by percent lean, because of the limited supply of lean beef and lean-beef trimmings," stated Tatum. Showing a chart that tracked prices by classifcation, Tatum illustrated how the 2014 slaughter-cow market differed from the historical pattern — how dressed cow prices climbed sky-high in the summer, and still remained above $200 per hundredweight (cwt.) at year-end. Tatum's graph also showed a departure from the typical market-cow classifcation price relationships. Rather than price per cwt. increasing from Lean to Boning and Boning to Breaking, the order was reversed. In the spring of 2015, USDA reports still showed Lean cows bringing the highest price per cwt. Unconventional practices add value Kansas State University economist Glynn Tonsor said that is a refection of the continued shortage of lean beef for which slaughter cows are a signifcant domestic source. Tonsor called it temporary, but this cause-and-effect relationship is likely to keep the slaughter-cow market from returning to its past seasonal pattern — at least for a while. That complicates things for producers pondering whether to keep cull cows or buy some to feed for a future market date. "It sounds simplistic, but you have to consider what the cows are worth at the start, what you think they will be worth on a later market, and what it will cost to get them there. You really have to know your costs," said Tonsor, noting that feeding cows under current conditions could be an uncomfortable proposition for risk-averse producers. "Personally, if I had extra forage and the choice of using it for cows or feeder calves, I'd choose the latter," Tonsor added. Yet selling through the slaughter market isn't the only way to merchandise cull cows, especially while the national tally of breeding females is low, and bred cows demand high prices. Speaking at last winter's State of Beef Conference in North Platte, Neb., University of Nebraska (NU) animal scientist Kelly Bruns noted how bred- cow prices had increased by more than 50% since 2012. He cited western Nebraska prices for fall-calving cows, sold in late summer, which ranged between $2,750 and $3,000. Bruns said producers might want to think about how cows that might otherwise be sold to slaughter could be marketed as bred females. "Maybe producers need to think about why they pull bulls," suggested Bruns. "Can things done for the right reasons become obsolete?" He was referring to conventional wisdom whereby producers achieve a defned calving season by exposing cows to bulls for a specifc number of days and then removing the bulls. Following pregnancy examination, producers can then cull any cows found open. Under current conditions, however, it might make good economic sense to leave bulls with the cows. If producers are disciplined about pregnancy-testing cows, they could identify pregnant cows that will deliver during a chosen calving season. Cows identifed as "late calvers" could then be sold at bred-cow prices to producers whose calving season they ft. Even cows found open after a defned breeding season may be candidates for "recycling." Bruns' NU colleague Rick Funston conducted two years of research involving retention and rebreeding of cows identifed as open following the regular summer breeding season. After an estrus- synchronization protocol was applied, the cows were again exposed to bulls for 60 days, beginning in November. The overall rebreeding pregnancy rate was 90% in the study's frst year, and 82% in the second year. The percentage of cows that conceived in the frst 21 days of the second breeding season was 89% and 80%, respectively. When both open and bred cows were sold in the spring, the bred cows netted a gain of $452. Bruns emphasized that the proft opportunity hinged on the cull-cow market relative to the market for bred cows. It illustrates another way that cull cows can be managed and marketed, and that cull-cow marketing is opportunistic. The same plan may not work year after year. Producers gain an advantage if they have the fexibility to use different strategies as market conditions change. Editor's Note: Troy Smith is a freelance writer and cattleman from Sargent, Neb. If producers are disciplined about pregnancy-testing cows, they could identify pregnant cows that will deliver during a chosen calving season.