msscamp":2lkujjas said:
Rod, you're situtation cannot be compared to dph or to mine. You're coming out of the effects of the BSE problem and the border being closed.
Actually, during the border closure, my culling program pretty much stopped. Older open cows were worth 4 cents per pound. Even young stuff was only selling for 20 cents. So I kept the open and problem stuff here until prices come back up. Even if I got 1 calf in 2 years, they still paid for themselves as my hay/grain is cheap. Plus I refused to deliver an animal to a packer for 4 cents/lb, watch that same packer sell it for hamburger at $1.50/lb, and see it turn up in Safeway as lean ground beef for $3/lb. Call me stubborn :lol:
I didn't realize prices got that low. I would call you determined! That's always a good thing! ;-)
I cull hard when prices are good. My reasoning, and it may not be sound
:
1) If you're only seeing a small percentage of cows open or very late, then chances are good its not a nutrition or bull based problem. Its almost certainly the cow.
I'm not going to argue with you on that point, providing it's a young cow. An older cow that has delivered every year previously requires a little more thought.
2) It may only be a one time problem, but I only have a certain amount of land base in which to be productive. I only want the absolute best animals running on that land.
I can understand where you are coming from on this one as well, but once again, there are other factors to be considered.
3) There are too many good cows in the world to keep a problem one around whose not earning her keep.
Very valid point.
4) With my purebreds, fertility is especially important. If they don't catch, I'm not going to chance perpetuating a genetic flaw. Maybe they only miss once, and then never miss again, but genetics are still very much a guessing game, so I'm not going to take the chance that I'm leaving a regressive gene behind that I (or a buyer) may throw back to.
Another very valid point.
Without meaning to hijack the thread, I also cull the cows of the bottom 10% of calves, based on feedlot performance. It takes more than once showing up in the bottom side to earn a cow an X for performance but they don't get too many chances.
Yet another very valid point.
When my purebred operation gets moving better, I'll be culling even harder, especially on the performance end.
Rod