Off the Hoof Kentucky Beef Newsletter November 2011

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1 Published Monthly by Dr. Les Anderson, Beef Extension Specialist, Department of Animal & Food Science, University of Kentucky Contents This month s newsletter includes: Timely Tips Burris Plan To Lower Winter Feed Costs Burris Does AI Cost or Pay? Anderson Kentucky Beef Cattle Market Update Burdine Timely Tips Dr. Roy Burris, University of Kentucky Beef Specialist Spring-calving cow herd Culling decisions should be made prior to winter feeding for best use of feed resources. Consider open, poor-producing and aged cows as candidates for culling. Evaluate body condition of cows after weaning their calves. Sort thin (less than CS5) cows away from the cow herd and feed to improve their condition. Two and three-year olds may need extra attention now. Dry cows in good condition can utilize crop residues and lower quality hay now (but don t let them lose any more body condition). Save higher quality feed until calving time. Keep a good mineral supplement with vitamin A available. Replacement heifers require attention during the winter, too. Weaned heifer calves should gain at an adequate rate to attain their target breeding weight (2/3 of their mature weight) by May 1. If you need to replace cows, consider buying bred heifers in some of the Kentucky Certified Replacement Heifer sales which are being held across the state this month. A postweaning feeding period will allow you to put rapid, economical gains on weaned calves, keep them through the fall runs and allow you to participate in Kentucky CPH-45 sales. Consider this health and marketing program which is designed for producers which are doing a good job of producing high quality feeder calves. Fall-calving herd Off the Hoof Kentucky Beef Newsletter November 2011 Continue to watch fall-calving cows this month. Catch up on processing of calves including identification, castration and vaccinations. Vaccinate the cows while they are open and prior to the breeding season. Move cows to accumulated pasture or increase feed now.

2 Start the breeding season about November 25 for calving to begin in September of If you are using AI and/or estrous synchronization, get your supplies together now. Don t forget Breeding Soundness Evaluations (BSE) on your bulls. Make final selection of replacement heifers now. General Have your hay supply analyzed for nutritive quality and estimate the amount of supplementation needed. Consider purchasing feed now. Don t waste your feed resources. Avoid excessive mud in the feeding area. Hay feeding areas can be constructed by putting rock on geotextile fabric. Feed those large round bales in hay rings to avoid waste. This is a good time to take soil tests and make fertility adjustments (phosphate, potash and lime) to your pastures. This is also a good time to freeze-brand bred yearling heifers and additions to the breeding herd. Graze alfalfa this month after a freeze-down (24 degrees for a few hours). Plan To Lower Winter Feed Costs Dr. Roy Burris, Beef Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky Winter feeding is probably the single largest expense of maintaining the cow herd. This year will not be an exception due to high input costs (especially grain and concentrates). However, there are several management practices that we can use to lower our feed costs and make our herds more profitable.. The amount of hay and purchased feed needed can be decreased by extending grazing for as long as possible. Last year at Princeton, we had to begin feeding hay in August. This year grazing might continue until Thanksgiving, due to improved moisture conditions. Pastures that have received nitrogen and been allowed to accumulate growth can be grazed even farther into the winter, thus markedly delaying the start of winter feeding. Accumulated/stockpiled fescue pastures should be strip-grazed to avoid waste and increase grazing days. Pregnancy check the spring calving cow herd now and eliminate the wintering of open cows or move them to the fall-calving group. Thin cows that are pregnant can be put on stockpiled pasture as soon as their calves are weaned to regain body condition prior to the winter feeding period. Favorable prices make this a good time to cull unproductive cows. Calculate the amount of hay that you need to feed the cows through the winter. A rough estimate would be about two percent of their bodyweight for 120 days or so. That would be about 25 lbs daily for 120 days to equal approximately 3,000 lb of hay per cow. Now multiply 3,000 lb by the number of cows that you plan to winter to estimate the amount of hay needed. You might be able to feed less than 120 days but don t count on it, and your round bales of hay probably weigh closer to lbs rather than the expected 1500 lbs. Obtain forage analyses on your hay supply so that you can estimate your supplemental feed needs. Supplemental feed purchases can be made ahead of time for best prices. Plan to minimize feed losses. Consider a feeding pad (geotextile fabric and gravel) with hay feeders to minimize mud and waste. Cost share programs may be available for permanent feeding structures. Feed pads or structures will also minimize damage to your pastures during the wet winter months. 2

3 Consider lower cost alternative feeds when purchasing supplements. Be aware of the nutrient value of purchased ingredients things like rice hulls, peanut hulls, cottonseed hulls, etc. may have very little feed value. You should know (based on your forage analyses) if you need protein, energy or both and purchase your feed accordingly. Cattle should be grouped according to their nutritional needs for winter feeding. There are several distinct management groups in most beef herds: Cows nursing calves Weanling replacement heifers Bred yearling heifers Dry, pregnant cows Herd bulls Most herds will have at least three of these groups which will benefit from being managed separately. Increase feed to cows after calving to get calves off to a good start and to maintain the cows body condition. Don t let cows lose much condition (flesh) this winter or next year s pregnancy rates will suffer. Calf prices will likely remain high so attempting to save money by underfeeding the cow herd this winter is bad business for the future Does AI Cost or Pay? Dr. Les Anderson, Beef Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky Last month we compared the costs per pregnancy for natural service and for a breeding system that included estrus synchronization and AI (ESAI). Considering the current costs of feed and pasture, the cost per pregnancy for natural service ranged from $38 to $72 when producers ran their bulls with cows and the purchase price of the bull ranged from $1,500 to $3,000. The cost per pregnancy of the more popular ESAI protocols is from $65-75 depending mainly upon the conception rate to AI. Therefore, if the average cost per pregnancy is about $50, then using ESAI will add $15 to $25 to our costs of production. The question then becomes, does using ESAI increase our productivity enough to overcome this added cost of production. Little data can be found in the literature that examines the return on investment of incorporating estrus synchronization and AI. We designed a trial to determine if implementation of estrus synchronization and AI is cost effective and impacts net return. Crossbred postpartum cows (n = 351) were assigned to one of two breeding systems. Approximately two-thirds of the cows (n = 251) were subjected to an estrus synchronization protocol suitable for a fixed-time insemination (SYNC). Estrus was synchronized using the CO-Synch estrus synchronization protocol. In short, cows were administered gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH; 100 ug; Cystorelin, Merial) and 7 days later were administered 25 mg of prostaglandin F 2 α (PG; Lutalyse, Pharmacia & UpJohn, Kalamazoo, MI). Cows were administered a second injection of GnRH and were artificially inseminated 48 hours after PG. Ten days later, cows were exposed to natural service for 50 days. Bull-to-cow ratio was 1:50 females in the SYNC group. The remaining cows (n = 100) were exposed to natural service for 60 days (NAT). The bull-to-cow ratio in the NAT treatment was 1:25. The bull-to-cow ratio was different between the SYNC and NAT groups because we anticipated that approximately one-half of the cows in the SYNC group would conceive to AI. To verify date of conception, pregnancy was diagnosed using transrectal ultrasonography. 3

4 To determine return on investment, all costs associated with the estrus synchronization and AI were recorded and are summarized in Table 1. Labor was determined by recording amount of time required to bring the cattle to the corral, work the cows and then return them to the breeding pastures. Four laborers were used, three trips through the chute, and an hourly wage of $7.00 per hour. To determine differences in revenue, calves were weighed at weaning and the differences in weight available to market were determined. Calves from both treatments were given a value of $1.35 per pound. The results of this trial are shown in Table 2. More cows calved in the SYNC group than in the NAT group and more cows calved in the first 30 days of the calving season in the SYNC versus the NAT treatment. The average date of calving was earlier in the cows in SYNC than in the NAT group. The average weaning weight of calves was heavier from cows in the SYNC than from those in the NAT group. The increase in percent calf crop weaned and weaning weight increased the pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed by nearly 110 pounds. Return on investment is shown in Table 3. Using market prices from November 2011, revenue increased by $ in the SYNC group. This increased revenue was achieved by investing $29.88 per cow. Therefore the return on investment for the estrus synchronization and AI was $ This return does not include savings associated with reduced bull costs. One-half the number of bulls was used per cow in SYNC group than in the NAT group. If savings on bull purchases are included, the return on investment increases to $199 per cow. So, using ESAI in a breeding program appears to increase returns by increasing the percent of cows that wean a calf and by increasing the weaning weight of calves. Obviously, every producer cannot expect a 9% increase in weaning rate and a 73 pound increase in weaning weight. Even if using ESAI increases your cost per pregnancy by $30, in today s market, a producer would only need to increase productivity by a total of 22 pounds per weaned calf simply to break even. Only 22 pounds! Perhaps ESAI doesn t cost as much money as it makes! Table 1. Cost of AI Item Cost per cow GnRH $4.00 Prostaglandin $4.00 Technician $5.00 Semen $10.00 Labor a $2.88 Total $29.88 a 8.6 hours X 3 working days X 4 workers X $7.00 per hour for 251 cows 4

5 Table 2. Results of Short-Term ESAI Trial SYNC NAT Diff Cows Calving Rate 90% 81% 9% % Calving 1 st 30 days 85% 62% 23% Mean Julian date of calving 74 ±.4 84 ±.7 10d % calf crop weaned 88% 79% 9% Weaning age 210 ± ± d Weaning Weight ± ± lbs Lbs. calf weaned/cow exposed 507.9C lbs Table 3. Increased Revenues from ESAI Revenue Weaning Weight 72.6 poundsx $1.35/lb = $98.01 (23 more calves x x $1.35/lb) / 251 % Calf crop = $71.40 Total Revenue $ Return on Investment $ = $ Kentucky Beef Cattle Market Update Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky Kentucky feeder cattle markets showed continued strength in October, posting moderate rallies at a time when prices usually approach their seasonal lows. Spring and summer feeder cattle futures contracts showed a nice rally in September and October and are hovering in a range of $145 to $150 at the time of this writing. Feeder cattle markets have been supported by strong deferred live cattle futures, trading well into the $120 s for summer and a corn market that is more than $1 off where it was two months ago. The October Cattle on Feed report showed a more normal placement pattern than has been seen recently. Total on feed numbers remain well above year ago due to early placements from drought stricken areas through the summer. Producers should also be aware that the larger than expected placement of light calves during the summer will likely have implications for slaughter levels this winter. The January Cattle Inventory report will likely show another year of herd liquidation in While calf prices have certainly been strong, weather challenges, as well as strong heifer and cull cow markets likely tempered expansion interest nationwide. Heavy cow slaughter through summer and fall, coupled with low heifer development estimates this summer suggest that we will begin 2012 with an even smaller cow herd and see a smaller calf crop. The fundamentally short supply of calves will continue to provide solid underpinning for the market in And, once expansion does begin, it will take at least two years before calf crops start to grow in size. From a supply perspective, the cattle market looks incredibly healthy as we prepare for the new year. 5

6 Medium / Large Frame #1 Steers 700 to 800 lbs Medium / Large Frame #1 Steers 500 to 600 lbs 6