I have a couple of questions regarding culling. I run a terminal operation so I'm not really looking to retain anything. What are your thoughts on the following?
1. If you are going to cull a cow, when is the best time to do it so you make the most money back? Should you sell as a cow calf pair, after weaning to sell the calf and momma separate, after breeding back and sell as a bred cow (if so is it better as a heavy bred), or other that I'm not thinking of.
2. Is it better to keep a momma that breeds early and raises some of your bigger calves but has some conformity issues so you know she may only be good for a few years (bad back feet), or a momma from a breeder that is structurally your best cow and could probably produce for a long time, but so far she has been the last to calve each of her first two calves. This year she was 60 days behind the first calf in a small herd of 5 mommas. Her calf is quite a bit smaller than the rest which are very uniform. Should I cut her some slack since sometimes they struggle to breed back after their first calf?
3. As a terminal operation, should I cull at the first sign of bad feet / bag or wait and get as many calves out of a momma as possible and cull when feet/bag/etc. get extreme?
1. If you are going to cull a cow, when is the best time to do it so you make the most money back? Should you sell as a cow calf pair, after weaning to sell the calf and momma separate, after breeding back and sell as a bred cow (if so is it better as a heavy bred), or other that I'm not thinking of.
2. Is it better to keep a momma that breeds early and raises some of your bigger calves but has some conformity issues so you know she may only be good for a few years (bad back feet), or a momma from a breeder that is structurally your best cow and could probably produce for a long time, but so far she has been the last to calve each of her first two calves. This year she was 60 days behind the first calf in a small herd of 5 mommas. Her calf is quite a bit smaller than the rest which are very uniform. Should I cut her some slack since sometimes they struggle to breed back after their first calf?
3. As a terminal operation, should I cull at the first sign of bad feet / bag or wait and get as many calves out of a momma as possible and cull when feet/bag/etc. get extreme?