Finding a good cattle breeder is a very important decision to make. The cattle that you will be buying will be having an impact on your herd’s genetics for years to come. A good cattle breeder should have a very strict selection strategy. Not just with the ones that they are selling but also the ones that they’ll be keeping in their own herd. Here are some tips to help you find a good one:
Category: cow/calf (Page 2 of 2)
What is the proper strategy to develop replacement heifers for my cowherd? This is a question many producers have asked themselves. Developing a replacement heifer is one of the most expensive management decisions a producer will make. Making this decision can have long term impacts on your herd’s profitability.
As we have come to the middle of January that means that calving season is just about to start. Generally this time of year can be a pretty stressful on the producer. There are of course things that you can do to reduce that stress for you and your family. Here are some things you can do to prepare for this hectic time of year.
There are many articles that discuss ways to increase your cow’s fertility in order to increase your profits out there. While many of them make valid points and have scientific facts to back them up, they usually involve increasing input costs as well. A little increase in your input costs can be handled when the markets are good, but what happens when the prices for cows goes down (as they will do)? Here are some tips to increase reproduction rates without breaking the bank.
The couple of cold fronts that have come through the last couple of weeks has signaled that winter is on its way. With winter it brings it’s own set of challenges for a cattle producer. Intense cold weather can leave cattle struggling as well as stressed, which can affect their health, as they go about their normal activities. Here are some ways you can help to reduce that stress:
There have been many reports showing that cow-calf operators can increase their calf’s value by using a preconditioning program. While there is profit potential in doing this it is best to do your homework first. The two things you must consider when looking into preconditioning are the value of gain and the cost of gain.
The month of October is here and usually that means weaning spring born calves and culling for many producers across the country. During this time producers face some tough challenges when it comes to culling cows. Is she good for another year? Will she keep enough body over the winter in order to rebreed next year?
Making decisions on which animals to get rid of can be difficult without an ability to see into the future. This is where having an overall plan of where you want your operation to go comes in handy. The key is you want to sell ones that are costing you money without providing and revenue to offset the costs.
With breeding season on it’s way now is a good time to get started getting the bull ready. Usually the cows are the main focus, but what about your bulls? Are they ready to service multiple cows during the breeding timeframe? Since just one will be providing 50% of the genetic material for your next calf crop you will want to make sure that he is ready to go.
Calving season is one of the busiest times of year for a cattle producer. It is when all the work that you have put in throughout the year will begin to pay off. Many producers have already started with their calving season with others starting theirs soon.
What happens during this time can have an impact on the number of live healthy calves that you will have. Also getting your calves on a good start can play a part on their lifetime performance. Since this is where the cow/calf producers makes his living it is best to do this right.
With the busyness there are many things that can go wrong. It is always a good idea to have a plan in place in order to make the season run smoothly with less headaches. The last thing that you want is to be caught off guard by nasty winter weather and have to be scrambling for supplies.
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