Does she stay or does she go? Keys to keeping or culling cows

I first want to thank the readers who reached out to correct me on my column on the benefits of preconditioning calves last month. I used an $8/cwt “preconditioning bonus,” and each person who responded said that is NOT what they are seeing at auction markets across the Midwest and Southeast. Every person said it was well ABOVE that level. One producer cited a recent report from the Bluegrass Stockyards in Farm World where a group of 780# valued added calves brought $36/cwt more than a similar-sized group weighing 762#. I checked the data for the past few weeks, and the PC bonus averaged $10-20/cwt. A $15/cwt bonus on 700# calves would add $105/head to the bottom line. While not as impressive as the $292/calf for the weight gain, it is what my dad calls “real money.” Thank you to those who took the time to correct me.

With cull cows bringing $170/cwt., that puts the value of a 1450# cow (about average for the U.S. and too big in my opinion, but that is a discussion for another day) at $2,465. At that price, please explain to me why you would have a cow on your farm that has a bad udder, attitude or feet? These problem cows need to go to market and should be replaced by a low maintenance, bred female.

Cull cow prices generally hit the low of the year about Nov. 15, so selling them now makes dollars and sense.

Besides the problem cows, open cows also need to go to market. We are at the highest profit/cow in the history of our industry, and having an open cow that wastes your hay, pasture and time needs to be replaced with a pregnant cow that will add to your business, not subtract from it. I see bred females selling for $4,000 and up, and a recent article I read said that bred females are currently undervalued in the current market. The author said that traditionally it takes 4.5 years of production to pay for a bred female, and currently it takes only 2.7 years to pay for the bred female.

Call your herd health veterinarian today and schedule a pregnancy check. Finding those open cows now and selling them before the market drops will give you time to find quality replacements so you can be at 100 percent capacity in 2026.

The number one question I have received lately is “How long is this tremendous market going to last?” Of course, if I had that “crystal ball,” I would be a wealthy man.

Here are the facts. Beef cow numbers are the lowest on record since the USDA began collecting that data in 1961, so the lowest number in 64 years. Heifers as a percent of the cattle on feed are currently at 38 percent. The 10-year average is 36.5 percent and the 20-year average is 34.5 percent. Having 1.5 percent more on feed may not sound like a big deal, but it means 255,000 heifers are not going to become cows to calve in 2027 and beyond.

Interestingly, in 2016, heifers as a percentage of cattle on feed was 32 percent. That is the lowest percentage over the past 20 years and was due to the spike in cattle prices in 2014. Everyone kept back a huge number of heifers to “cash in” on the great market. What happened was that the market was then flooded, and the price plummeted. There is zero indication that this is happening now or will happen in the near future. The reasons are a long-term drought in many cattle-raising areas of the U.S., higher interest rates, significantly higher feeder calf prices, and the aging of the American beef producer has kept heifer retention low.

Like predicting the weather a few months away (or even the next day at times), predicting cattle prices two-five years out makes our crystal ball very fuzzy. That said, USDA predicts that 5-6 weight feeder cattle will remain over $300/cwt through 2030. That is 5 more years of excellent prices. Please do not purchase futures contracts based on this information. I am simply trying to paint a picture that gives evidence to have pastures at or near capacity with productive females and no freeloaders this fall and beyond.

While your herd health veterinarian is conducting the pregnancy exam, this is a great time to look at feet, udders and Body Condition Score (BCS). When a cow with corkscrew claw (a heritable condition) comes through the chute for a pregnancy check, I ask if there is any reason to pregnancy check her. She is only going to get worse, and foot trims are only temporary fixes.

If the average cow in the herd has a BCS of 5 (good) on a 9-point scale and a cow or two is a score of 3 (very thin), we try to find out why. If she is open, feeding her for 60 days generally pays a nice dividend. If she is pregnant and young, deworming and giving some TLC in the form of a higher energy and protein ration should do the trick. If she has a sore foot, have her examined to find the cause. We don’t want a thin cow going into winter, as that is generally a recipe for failure.

The cattle market is the best we have ever seen and having a herd of very productive cows come spring of 2026 takes planning now. Get your cows pregnancy checked and send the problem and open cows to market. Replace them with productive cows that will add to your beef business.