Looking at Feeding Culls? Proceed With Caution

By Sarah Young Livestock Editor
Thursday, November 27, 2008 8:43 PM CST

In Wisconsin, 10 percent of a cow-calf producers income can come from selling cull cows. But do your homework if you plan to feed out culls to make extra cash.

Income off of cull animals varies operation to operation depending on the cull rate. In the upper mid-west, based on Standardized Performance Data (SPA), the cull rate of open cows is projected to be 10-15 percent of the herd. Lower than other areas of the United States.

With an average herd size of 23 in Wisconsin that could mean two to three cows a year will be culled.

“With respect to the overall income, it is still a small percentage,” says Jeff Lehmkuhler, University of Kentucky beef extension specialist.

If the market is 40 cents on those cows, producers could see a $1,000 return. When comparing that to selling 20 calves at $500 per head for $10,000, culls result in 10 percent of gross income.

Although 10 percent doesn’t seem like that much, it could make a difference for some producers. Something that could increase revenue on culls would be to feed them out through the winter months to improve body condition. But you have to work the numbers and assess your ability to keep cows longer.

“It’s operation dependent,” he says about the ability to keep cows any longer.

It depends on feed resources and actual available space for a separate group. With most producers already carrying replacement heifers, bred heifers, thin cows and the cow herd, one more group may not be feasible.

Price seasonality is another issue. Prices are at their lowest October through December and pick up again January through March. The large supply of culls on the market causes the lower prices.

“The seaonality trend is for prices to bottom out in the fall in the October, November, December timeframe. That’s when the majority of our beef herds are culling open cows because the majority of our herds are spring calving,” he explains.

According to Cattle-Fax data, retaining and feeding cows has been profitable almost every year over the past 25 years.

Most producers cannot retain cows because of resource restraints and mentality change of holding onto cows longer, he says.

“I strongly caution folks especially in times we have high input costs, we do need to look at projected returns because it may not be profitable,” he says.

Each animal needs to be assessed before deciding to retain or not. Cows with good body condition score are not going to gain from feeding. Cattle with lower body condition scores could gain from feeding.

“In order to get good gain and feed efficiency we need to be feeding these cows a high energy diet for a period of 45-60 days,” he says. “In doing so we can expect 3-3.5 pounds per day.”

In a 2004 trial at Iowa State, it added $50-90 by selling them at 55-56 per hundredweight compared to the 36 per hundredweight that was offered in the fall.

A Florida State study added $250 in carcass value, but projected an overall loss of $25.

Cull grading

Cull carcasses are generally broken down into five categories: Premium white, breakers, boners, lean and low dressing lean.

“The challenge with cull cows is they have a lot of bone and little fat and muscle,” says Jeff Sindelar, UW-Extension meat specialist. “The opposite of what packers want to see.”

Premium whites are more versatile for packer and can receive a premium, he explains. Premium whites generally have a high body condition score (BCS).

Breakers have BCS 7 or higher; boners have BSC between 5 and 7; leans have lower BCS of 1-4. Low dressing percentages are what Sindelar refers to as “trainwrecks” n very thin and rundown.

Prices for the slaughter cows as reported by USDA Agriculture Marketing Service on Nov. 21 were as follows:

- Premium White: over 1,400 pounds were 43-47 to 49 early

- Breakers: over 1,250 pounds were 40-44 to 46 early

- Boners: over 1,100 pounds were 37-42 to 44 early

- Lean: over 1,000 pounds were 35-40 to 42 early

- Low Dressing Lean: over 1,000 pounds were 30-35 to 36 early

Comments »

Comment on this story

Comments will be approved within 48 hours

Name:

Email: (optional)

Comments:

Image Verification: (Case sensitive)