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BEEF Cattle questions may be directed to the OSU Extension BEEF Team through Stephen Boyles or Stan Smith, Editor

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Previous issues of the BEEF Cattle letter

Issue # 503

September 6, 2006

Is a formalized heifer development program possible in Ohio? - Stan Smith, OSU Extension PA, Fairfield County

Profitability of cow/calf operations in Ohio and throughout the United States is influenced largely by pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed for breeding. Thus, selection and management decisions involving replacement beef heifers greatly affect future productivity of the entire herd.

The most recent cattle inventory indicates that Ohio maintains 297,000 mature cows with an average of less than 16 cows per herd. Using a replacement rate of 20% of the cow herd annually, this suggests that each year nearly 60,000 replacement heifers are needed in Ohio, yet this amounts to only about 3 heifers per average herd.

Individually, efficiently developing only a few heifers each year can prove to be a difficult task for Ohio cow-calf producers given the small numbers and lack of proper facilities. This being accepted, it's easy to see why effective female replacement strategies may not only be expensive, but also have as great a long-term effect on profitability within a cowherd as any other decision made by a cow-calf producer.

Following on the heals of last winter's Ohio Beef Heifer Development Short Course, and in an effort to address the issues surrounding heifer development and further enhance the profitability of Ohio's beef cattle industry, the Ohio State University Extension Beef Team and Ohio Cattlemen's Association are cooperating to explore the establishment of beef heifer development programs in Ohio. John Grimes, OSU Extension Educator in Highland County, recently spearheaded an effort that secured grant funding from the Southern Ohio Agricultural and Community Development Foundation to initiate the establishment of an on-farm beef heifer development program in Ohio. Initially, two Ohio farm cooperators will be identified which will allow their operations to serve as beef heifer development educational centers. Hopefully, this will in turn lead to new marketing opportunities for Ohio's beef producers.

The basic Ohio heifer development model will be to establish locations where Ohio cattlemen can send heifer calves to be developed from approximately one year of age until they are confirmed bred. The cooperators would follow a set of criteria established by the OSU Animal Science Department and OSU Extension Beef Team for optimum heifer development. Management techniques including proper nutrition, heat synchronization, calving ease genetics, and modern identification systems will be emphasized. After females are confirmed bred, they can be returned to the consignors' herd as replacement females, or offered for sale to the public as replacement females for other herds. The grant funds are being used to support these activities, serving largely as start-up funds.

The goal is to create the first two development locations in close proximity to large numbers of Ohio cow-calf operations and also in areas that provide easy access to educational opportunities. Ultimately, the hope is to demonstrate an economic advantage for the cow-calf producer by utilizing custom heifer development and at the same time create a new marketing opportunity for individuals looking to buy or sell replacement heifers.

The Ohio On-Farm Beef Heifer Development project is still in the early planning stages and more details will be available later this Fall. In the mean time, for more information, you may contact Bill Doig, Beef Program Specialist (614.873.6736 or bdoig@ohiobeef.org) or John Grimes (937.393.1918 or grimes.1@osu.edu).

Traditions of value - Miranda Reiman, Certified Angus Beef (reprinted with permission from the CAB "Black Ink" publication, August, 2006)

Tradition. It's that salad you can count on Aunt Kari bringing to each and every family picnic. It's the Christmas cookie recipe that great-grandma brought over from "the old country." Tradition is the annual barn dance your neighbor holds after the last cutting of hay, or that classic pickup truck the high school always borrows to showcase the royal court in the homecoming parade.

Tradition can be good, bad or indifferent. Maybe you'll keep up the traveling "over-the hill" birthday gag gift or doing the chicken dance at every wedding dance. The egg toss at the county fair--you could take it or leave it.

Your farming and ranching enterprise might be based on tradition. Your dad always started calving the 15th of February, so do you. You were taught to get up with the sun and to feed the cattle before you take a stop for breakfast.

Often there's a good reason for those traditions. Experience may have taught you what worked best. There's nothing wrong with a tradition that works, if it still works. However, marketing schemes based on tradition might leave you short changed.

Looking at a few disappointing calves, most producers start thinking about culling cows this time of year. Not long after, they will sell those that don't measure up. Seasonal trends show that the majority of the nation's slaughter cows are sold from October to November. It's no accident, that coincides with the annual low price.

Last year the lowest USDA Utility grade cow price was listed in November at $47.91 per hundredweight (cwt.). That's nearly $6.50 less than the yearly average.

If you want to top the cull-cow market, rather than find the bottom, you might think about selling earlier or later. The first option would most likely mean early weaning. That could be an option if you have plans to background and feed the calves. Started on a corn ration early, they'll have a better chance to maximize quality grade. And you can trade those pesky, non-performing cows for cash. But it also means foregoing those pounds cows often put on quickly after weaning.

Selling later could just mean keeping those cows with the rest for a few months, where they will probably gain significant weight while the market price improves. Another option is to put them on feed for those months, increasing quality for higher prices as auction or direct sales to packers.

Once you've decided when to sell your cows, you need to decide which cows will be sent down the road. Those cows that didn't breed back are typically first out of the herd. What else decides it--tradition? Some cattlemen have a magic age, some keep a round number of cows and must sell to allow for the next generation of heifers, while others look at soundness and condition.

Disposition often captures your attention. There's that cow that got out three times this summer and refused to ever let you get near her calf. Think of all the time you spent chasing her back in, fixing the fence and devising plans on how to tag her calf. You already threatened her; now it's time to back it up. She takes more work, and poor disposition is heritable so steers lose money on feed or heifers keep up the tradition in your herd.

By working with a buyer or feedlot, or feeding your calves to finish, you could get carcass data back. That would allow you to find cows with below-average feedlot and beef quality calves. If cow #807 consistently produces calves that grade low Select, she's not pulling her weight.

Whatever method you use to identify culls, it's the marketing that will help you capture more dollars. The value of a cow is certainly in the number of healthy calves she gets on the ground, but don't shortchange her worth when she's outlived her usefulness on your ranch. Resist the urge to load them up just because it is the week after harvest or the week before Thanksgiving.

The difference between great-grandma's recipe and the egg toss at the county fair is in the value you see in them. The same is true for your culling traditions.

Know the Cull Cow Grades Before You Sell - Dr. Glenn Selk, Extension Cattle Specialist, Oklahoma State University

Some culling of beef cows occurs in most herds every year. The Beef Audits have generally shown that cull cows, bulls, and cull dairy cows make up about 20% of the beef available for consumption in the United States. About half of this group (or 10% of the beef supply) comes from cull beef cows.

In a drought-plagued year, the percentage of some herds that are being culled goes even higher than the survey estimates of 20% of each cow herd. Whether we are culling because of drought or to improve the productivity of the herd, it is important to understand the values placed on cull cows intended for slaughter.

The USDA market news service reports on four classes of cull cows. The four classes are divided primarily on fatness. The highest conditioned cull cows are reported as "Breakers". They usually are quite fleshy and generally have excellent dressing percentages. Body condition score 7 and above are required to be "Breakers".

The next class is a more moderate conditioned group of cows called "Boners" or "Boning Utility". These cows usually would fall in the body condition score grades of 5 to 7. Many well-nourished commercial beef cows would be graded "Boners".

The last two groups of cows as reported by the market news service are the "Leans" and "Lites". These cows are very thin (Body condition scores 1 - 4). They are in general expected to be lower in dressing percentage than the fleshier cows and are more easily bruised while being transported than are cows in better body condition. "Lites" are thin cows that are very small and would have very low hot carcass weights.

Leans and Lites are nearly always lower in price per pound than are the Boners and the Breakers. "Lites" often bring the lowest price per pound because the amount of saleable product is small, even though the overhead costs of slaughering and processing are about the same as larger, fleshier cows.

Producers that sell cull cows should pay close attention to the market news reports about the price differentials of the cows in these classes. Cull cows that can be fed enough to gain body condition to improve from the Lean class to Boner class can gain weight and gain in value per pound at the same time. Seldom, if ever, does this situation exist elsewhere in the beef business. Therefore during the drought, market your cull cows while still in good enough condition to fall in the Boner grade. If cows are being culled while very thin, consider short term dry lot feeding to take them up in weight and up in grade. This usually can be done in about 50 to 70 days with excellent feed efficiency. Rarely does it pay to feed enough to move the cow to "Breaker" class. There is very little if any price advantage of Breakers over Boners and cows lose feed efficiency if fed to that degree of fatness.

Forage Focus: Setting Up for a Fall Alfalfa Harvest - Marvin Hall, Forage Management Specialist, Penn State

In my travels around Pennsylvania I've had several farmers ask about alfalfa harvest management in August and how that will affect timing of harvest during the fall. Fall harvesting of alfalfa is a site specific and variety specific decision. Often we balance the need for additional high quality forage against winter injury. A chart to help evaluate the risk of winter injury due to a late fall cutting can be found on page four of Agronomy Fact Sheet #7 "Cutting Management of Alfalfa, Red Clover and Birdsfoot Trefoil." Working down through the chart can shed some light on your decisions.

Cattle Market Notes for Friday, September 1, 2006 - John D. Anderson, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University

Last week's 5 Area average fed steer price was $87.54 live, $137.17 dressed - up right at $2 from the previous week. This week, the market continues its impressive run. In active cash business on Friday, prices started out at $90 live in the Texas panhandle before climbing to $92.50 in the afternoon. Sales in most other regions were in the $92 to $92.50 range as well. Cattle slaughter this week is estimated to be down a little, reflecting recent lighter marketings. Total cattle slaughter is projected at 680,000 head - down from 686,000 head last week.

Feeder and stocker cattle prices were steady to higher at most locations this week following last week's improvement in fed cattle prices. At Oklahoma City, feeder steer and heifer prices were $1 to $2 higher. Stocker steer and heifer prices were steady. At Lexington, Kentucky, feeder steer prices were firm to $2 higher, and feeder heifer prices were steady to firm. Stocker steer prices were $1 to $5 higher, but stocker heifer prices were just steady to $2 lower. At West Plains, Missouri, prices on steers and heifers were generally $2 to $3 higher. At Arkansas auctions, steer and heifer prices were $1 to $3 higher.

In Mississippi, calf prices mostly went against the grain this week, with steers called $5 lower and heifers called $2 to $5 lower. For the week, feeder steer prices in Mississippi were as follows: 250-300 pounds, $150-$160; 300-350 pounds, $140-$150; 350-400 pounds, $130-$140; 400-500 pounds, $115-$130; 500-600 pounds, $110-$115; 600-650 pounds, $100-$110; 650-700 pounds, $95-$100; 700-800 pounds, not reported. Prices on slaughter cows were up $1 this week. For the week: breakers, $39.50-$42; boners (850-1,200#), $42-$46; lean (850-1,200#), $35-$45.

Once again getting little direction from the cash market for much of the week, Live Cattle futures pushed steadily higher. October pushed to a new contract high on Friday. All contracts are at or near contract highs right now. Live Cattle futures closing prices on Friday (with change from last Friday's close in parentheses) were as follows: October $93.35 (+1.18); December $93.15 (+1.40); February $92.45 (+0.33); April $90.97 (+0.37); June 86.70 (-0.15).

Feeder Cattle futures mostly drifted sideways this week, with some contracts pulling back a little late in the week. Feeder Cattle futures closing prices on Friday (with change from last Friday's close in parentheses) were as follows: September $116.55 (+0.20); October $116.32 (-0.95); November $116.67 (-0.55); January $113.37 (-0.13).

Corn futures rallied on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday's buying interest was supported by a surge in wheat prices and by expectations of improving demand. On Thursday, positive export news from USDA extended the rally. Corn futures were down on Friday, largely on profit taking in advance of what will be a long Labor Day weekend for traders. September Corn closed on Friday at $2.30, up 5 cents for the week. Soybean futures didn't do much this week, falling on Monday and mostly trading sideways after that. Expectations of a good crop continue to keep downward pressure on prices in that market. September soybeans closed on Friday at $5.38 �, down 4 � cents from last Friday's close.

The cash fed cattle market may be red hot right now, but support for this week's higher prices wasn't much coming from the wholesale beef market. Wholesale beef prices were basically steady this week, though movement of beef appeared to be some improved from the last couple of weeks. On Friday afternoon, the Choice cutout value stood at $145.24, down about 40 cents from last Friday. The Select cutout on Friday was at $135.39, up about 60 cents from last week.

Visit the OSU Beef Team calendar of meetings and upcoming events

BEEF Cattle is a weekly publication of Ohio State University Extension in Fairfield County and the OSU Beef Team. Contributors include members of the Beef Team and other beef cattle specialists and economists from across the U.S.

All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status. Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Admin. and Director, OSU Extension. TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868

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