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Breeding / Calving Issues
Cow Frame Size, interseeded clover year 2 and some pictures
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<blockquote data-quote="Willow Springs" data-source="post: 674816" data-attributes="member: 9002"><p>I disagee somewhat with some of the comments made in the last few posts. Keeping your market in mind, etc is very true, however trying to match your cowherd to what the feeding industry wants is wrong in my opinion. That is why we the continental cattle were brought over, as a terminal cross in to increase feedlot performance (ie: growth, muscle, cutability, etc.). Why not use these other breeds to make a more ideal feedlot animal while gaining the nearly free advantage of hi-brid vigour instead of putting all the pressure on your cows to be big enough to produce what the feedlot wants? Almost all the breeds come in black nowadays if that is of concern to anyone.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>By this reasoning then we could have 2000 lb cows. You are pointing out differences that could be possible within individuals not what would happen on a broader spectrum. If you went to the mart and bought 100 cows of each weight category their feed efficiency, milking ability, etc would be pretty much even on average. The group of 1200 lb cows would wean more pounds of calf per pound of cow everytime. There may be individuals within each group that didn't fit this general rule but that is true of every population. The calves from the 1200 lb cows would also most likely be lighter, but then they are almost always worth more $'s per pound. I know that I sound like Kit Pharo (I have plagarized some of my thinking from him), but it is very common sense stuff if you actually keep an open mind and think about it. Yes if the calves looked stubby and like they wouldn't grow you may get docked a bit, but would it offset the fact that they were worth more per pound and cost less to produce than the calves from the 1500 lb cow? Besides that if you crossbred with a a little larger framed bull the calves would not even come close to a discount.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is only partially true. I can feed a larger amount of smaller cows in the same amount of time because each one eats less feed so my labour cost per cow is lower, all fixed costs (equipment, labour, barns, etc.) can be spread out over a larger number of cows so cost per cow is lower. Also checking/moving/handling cows is not incremental. It doesn't take double the time to check/move/handle 100 cows than it takes for 50. The more cows you have the lower the cost per cow on these activities as well. Any drugs that have dosage related to weight are also less for the smaller cows. </p><p></p><p>There are actually very few things that cost the same for small cows as big. Vaccines, tags, synchro drugs, preg checks, etc are fixed as costs per cow so they cost per pound of production for those very few things would actually be higher on the small cows.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Willow Springs, post: 674816, member: 9002"] I disagee somewhat with some of the comments made in the last few posts. Keeping your market in mind, etc is very true, however trying to match your cowherd to what the feeding industry wants is wrong in my opinion. That is why we the continental cattle were brought over, as a terminal cross in to increase feedlot performance (ie: growth, muscle, cutability, etc.). Why not use these other breeds to make a more ideal feedlot animal while gaining the nearly free advantage of hi-brid vigour instead of putting all the pressure on your cows to be big enough to produce what the feedlot wants? Almost all the breeds come in black nowadays if that is of concern to anyone. By this reasoning then we could have 2000 lb cows. You are pointing out differences that could be possible within individuals not what would happen on a broader spectrum. If you went to the mart and bought 100 cows of each weight category their feed efficiency, milking ability, etc would be pretty much even on average. The group of 1200 lb cows would wean more pounds of calf per pound of cow everytime. There may be individuals within each group that didn't fit this general rule but that is true of every population. The calves from the 1200 lb cows would also most likely be lighter, but then they are almost always worth more $'s per pound. I know that I sound like Kit Pharo (I have plagarized some of my thinking from him), but it is very common sense stuff if you actually keep an open mind and think about it. Yes if the calves looked stubby and like they wouldn't grow you may get docked a bit, but would it offset the fact that they were worth more per pound and cost less to produce than the calves from the 1500 lb cow? Besides that if you crossbred with a a little larger framed bull the calves would not even come close to a discount. This is only partially true. I can feed a larger amount of smaller cows in the same amount of time because each one eats less feed so my labour cost per cow is lower, all fixed costs (equipment, labour, barns, etc.) can be spread out over a larger number of cows so cost per cow is lower. Also checking/moving/handling cows is not incremental. It doesn't take double the time to check/move/handle 100 cows than it takes for 50. The more cows you have the lower the cost per cow on these activities as well. Any drugs that have dosage related to weight are also less for the smaller cows. There are actually very few things that cost the same for small cows as big. Vaccines, tags, synchro drugs, preg checks, etc are fixed as costs per cow so they cost per pound of production for those very few things would actually be higher on the small cows. [/QUOTE]
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