You make a good point dun, and like I said, your selection program must match the goals of your operation and culling is part of that selection. I'm guessing youre breeding your own replacements? Good for you for tailoring a program to maximize on low input feed types in your area to develop your own heifers. Where I grew up, we had a lot of the same situation (good fescue grass mostly, good rain throughout the year, we could stockpile fescue like it was our jobs, really helped us cut down on feeding hay long into the fall) And we developed heifers on a ration we mixed ourselves because we were able to cut our own corn for silage, and we didn't grow as much hay, its all about tailoring your program to fit your needs and your goals like I said, not taking a dig at developing heifers with low inputs, its a no brainer its the best way to maximize profit margins, even over selling bred heifers or whatever else to calving ease A.I. bulls, low input but quality development of a replacement heifer will still be worth more when you do the math, so I commend you dun.
A little addition to this I believe at no point should low inputs be put before meeting the nutritional needs of an animal, that is really what my advice on "thriving on a ration" was meant to address, but still I see your point with your operation dun, and you make a great point
A little addition to this I believe at no point should low inputs be put before meeting the nutritional needs of an animal, that is really what my advice on "thriving on a ration" was meant to address, but still I see your point with your operation dun, and you make a great point
