BEEF HERD HEALTH

BY W. MARK, HILTON, DVM 

In January, I wrote about creating a beef business plan for the first half of the year. Let’s look at the second half of the year.

July

County fairs are in full swing, and what a wonderful way to support our future beef producers. I know that 4-H and exhibiting livestock were instrumental for many of us, and encouraging these young people will be greatly appreciated. When I was in 4-H, I remember one beef producer who would always ask me, “Did you have fun? Did you learn something?” He never asked how I placed. I asked my father why he never asked how I did, and dad told me that having fun and learning something was more important than the color of my ribbon. I have always remembered that and use the same two questions when I see the 4-Hers at the fair.

July should be a bit of a lull for any herd work. Calves should already be vaccinated, and bulls castrated. Did you apply fly control? If not, using insecticide ear tags, pour-ons and back rubbers will be key to limiting the negative effects of these pests.

August

I will be writing about the value of preconditioning calves in my August column. I formulated a preconditioning/backgrounding ration for a client last summer, and when we added the profit for the added gain from backgrounding the calves for 60 days with the decrease in shrink and the price advantage for preconditioned calves, his return to labor and management was $299/calf above what he would have received the day of weaning. He made over $20,000 extra on his 70 calves in 2024. I am confident that 2025 will be even more lucrative for preconditioning. Feed prices are lower, and cattle prices are higher.

I am going to make a bold prediction and say that some of you will fight mud this coming winter. I know it is hard to think about mud in July when it is hot and dry, but most places in the Midwest have a fifth season, and that is “mud season.” Contact your Natural Resources Conservation Service office in August to inquire about making a hay pad (also called a heavy use area) to use to feed the cows this winter. One hundred percent of the herd owners I work with who have made a hay pad say, “I should have done this years ago.” You can also put electric wire around the hay feeding area and only allow four-eight hours of access to hay to save 20-30 percent of your hay. Win-win.

September

Wean your calves before you begin harvest. This is another area where 100 percent of the owners I work with say they would never go back to late weaning of calves. The weather is generally favorable, and getting your calves off to a great start on the most stressful day of their lives is paramount. Cows can return to grass, and as soon as the first cornfield is harvested, get the cows out there for corn crop residue grazing. A friend says that the day he turns his cows out to graze the harvested cornfield is “the best day to own a beef cow.”

I spoke with a producer the other day who sold a few cull cows and took home nearly $3,000/cow! I recall selling cull cows for around $500 a few years back. There is never a time to have freeloaders in your herd, but the reward for selling them has never been greater. I encourage you to pregnancy check cows as early in the fall as possible. If your veterinarian wants cows to be at least 40 days pregnant and you calve April 1-May 31, you could pregnancy check as early as Aug. 22, so pregnancy checking in September will work.

If open cows are in good flesh, sell them ASAP. If they are thin, implanting with a terminal implant and feeding for 50 days should improve your profit.

October

A month after weaning is a great time to select your commercial replacement females if you will be keeping some back. With prices projected to be record high, keeping fewer or none should be an option.

We switched from a mindset of “I like that one” to a much better plan of “that is a concern” many years ago, and it has paid tremendous dividends. Our list includes: Is her docility a concern? If so, she is a feeder. There is no place on the farm or ranch for an ornery female. Is she a crossbred? According to Kansas State’s economic data, at current prices, a crossbred female will generate $350 more profit per year than a straightbred female. The number one reason is that a crossbred female is productive for 1.2 years longer than straightbred. Was she born in the early part of the calving season? Late-born heifers tend to have poorer fertility. Does her dam have a good udder and good feet? If not, she is a feeder. Did she have a very high birthweight? If so, she is a feeder. We don’t want dystocias.

We have been recommending DNA testing of potential replacement females for the past few years, as the technology now has millions of cattle in its databases. I cannot look at a heifer and tell if she has good stayability (prediction that she will calve every year on schedule for at least six years), and that is vitally important if you are selecting replacements. Do you sell freezer beef? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a prediction of the tenderness of the meat before you select a heifer? The DNA test will give you that along with scores for 15-20 additional traits of importance. With a weaned heifer worth $2,000 or more this fall, doesn’t it make sense to spend about $30 to see if she checks all the boxes for your herd goals?

November

While you won’t likely see evidence of lice infestation until January, preventing the disease in November is the key. Talk to your herd health veterinarian about what product to use and how to apply it. If you are pregnancy checking cows in September, as we recommend, that is too early to pour for lice control. Wait until November.

December

Hopefully, you were able to graze corn crop residue from mid-September to mid-November. If you stockpiled grass, that was grazed after the cows came off the stalks, which hopefully means no hay fed until mid-late December.

Back when I was in middle school, my dad would leave me a note with how many square bales of hay to give the cows after I got home from school. When I was in high school, we bought a round baler. Wow, was that a labor saver? The problem was that it was obvious we were going to run out of hay well ahead of our predicted grass turnout date. We made just as much hay, but the wastage was tremendous even with a bale ring.

The solution. Build a hay pad, put the hay in a bale feeder, and use a single strand of electric wire to keep the cows out most of the day. Test the hay to determine the quality. Giving four-eight hours of access per day, depending on the hay quality, should provide the majority of the nutrition (you may need to also feed some grain/co-product feed depending on hay quality) the cows need and tremendously reduce wastage. If a cow only has four-eight hours to eat, she is eating the entire time. No pulling hay out and lying on it. If you also work off the farm, some technologies will remotely open the spring gate electric fence to let the cows in. When you get home from work, simply walk the cows out, reattach the fence and reset the timer for the following day.

I hope you will use your calendar to write down some of these ideas that should help you to improve your beef business.