cull cow

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ncboy34

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Foothills of North Carolina
Have a cow that had some problems calving the other day. The calves front legs got turned around and ended up having to pull the calf. It was dead though. Seemed like the cow done everything she could do and this was not her first calf. What do some of yall typically do in this situation? Send her to the sale or give her another chance. My feeling is that she needs to bring in money whether it is by having a calf or being sold herself but seems like a man wouldn't have a herd left if he sold every cow that had problems calving. Just wanting some opinions.
 
I can't tell you how I'd handle her without knowing more about your inputs.
If you keep her, she'll likely have a hard time producing enough calf to support her cost of upkeep as she has two years worth of inputs with only one calf to show for it but if you cull her you have a cow that produced a profitable calf every year and then gave you salvage value with no inputs above what the rest of your cows are doing.
If you're swamped in cheap feed and don't have any labor costs, it won't hurt to keep her. If you have to buy alot of hay, sell her. Figure out what kill cow and pair prices are and you might find that your best option is to kill her and buy back a pair to take her place.
 
ncboy34":t2rh0trs said:
Have a cow that had some problems calving the other day. The calves front legs got turned around and ended up having to pull the calf. It was dead though. Seemed like the cow done everything she could do and this was not her first calf. What do some of yall typically do in this situation? Send her to the sale or give her another chance.
Click to expand...

Have had the same kind of issue:
Old cow or problem cow - sales barn
Prime cow - depends on rain that year
Heifer - Really hard to know, but the ones I have kept turned into big 3 yr olds w/ an early calf.
 
No hard and fast rule. Depends on the cow itself, if she's registered and "should" produce offspring that will be herd improvements (sale for more then just feeders), I would keep her. But that also depends on the feed situation.
We have a cow that this year calved unassisted with the head folded back, calf was dead from a broken neck. That particular cow has contributed a couple of top percental heifers and 2 bull calves that sold for above average bull proces. She's AIed this year and if she has palped preg in the fall she'ss stay, otherwise she's off to the slaughterhouse.
 
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I always sell if i cant make the numbers work on buying a third stage or a pair i wait till they get cheaper i dont have cows just to have cows they have to make money
 
I bought her with a group of cows that were basically pairs this past fall. Some had calves some did not. She had a calf with her but I am not sure of her age. I am thinking according to who I got her from 4-5 years but he shouldn't of had these cows to begin with. This is the first real "problem" I have had out of this group so I guess I can't complain to much.
 
Just my opinon but there are lots of circumstances that can give a cow birthing problems, and most are beyond her control or not something she did wrong, just nature playing a bad hand. I'd give her one more chance, spend alittle more on her weight gain and get her back up to birthing weight as soon as you can then breed her again. FWIW.
 
Cow's are classified as red and blue here.
Blue are the cull's.
A cow has to produce and raise a healthy calf or take the place of the calf at the sale.
Now that is my rule doesn't make it right. In my mind if she doesn't produce income and quality equal to her peer's in the pasture, she is a welfare cow. It is cheaper to keep a working cow. :2cents:
 
If you cull her she will bring slaughter price and you are probably losing $300-400. If you rebuy a bred cow at the sale barn you are going to have to shell out an additional $300 and probably be buying someone else's cull. If she is under 6 years old and you are needing to add cows to your herd, I would give her another chance. You can always cull her later if conditions change where you need to reduce your head count.
A good low birth weight bull solves a lot of calving problems.
 

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