A4O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November £ll>§3
■
Are Culling Practices Killing
Your Profits?
How are culling decisions being
made in your herd? Are they made
by you or by the problems that
plaque cows in your herd? Are
you able to upgrade your herd by
selectively culling the poorer
cows, or are too many of your bet
ter cows departing the herd pre
maturely because of problems.
What prices do you get for cows
that leave the herd; are they as
high as what they could be?
Are your annual replacement
costs per cow high due to rapid
turnover of cows? On the other
hand though, are you turning cows
over fast enough to make room for
the next crop of genetically super
ior heifers?
These factors can have a tre
mendous impact on herd profits,
and answers to many of the above
questions can be found in your
Penna. and Raleigh DHIA Herd
Summary reports. As an example,
let’s look at averages for Lancas
ter County herds whose records
were processed at Raleigh. They
are shown in Table 1.
The average culling rate for
Lancaster herds was 35%. The
Table 1: Cow Turnover Summary
NUMBER
OF
COWS
21
IST lACT.
15
2ND LACT
3 + LACTS
ALL
LACTATIONS
60
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GLENN’S
UDDERINGS
By
Glenn A. Shirk
Lancaster Extension
Dairy Agent
average cow spent 2.9 years in the
milking herd (100 divided by 35).
What affect does this have on
annual replacement costs per
cow? To calculate this, we need to
know the net cost of bringing a
replacement into the herd, which
is the average cost of a replace
ment minus the average sale value
of cows removed from the milking
herd. Let’s assume the average
cost of a replacement is $llOO
(cash plus non cash cost); and the
average sale value of cows
removed was $5OO (breeding
stock, culls and dead cows). The
net cost of the replacement is $6OO
(1100-500). The average cost per
year is $6OO divided by 2,9 years
or $207. If average longevity was
4 years (25% cull rate) the annual
cost per cow would drop to $l5O
(600 divided by 4); that’s a sav
ings of $57 per cow per year.
About 29% of the cows that left
the herd were Ist calf heifers (6
out of 21). Also, 29%. of the Ist
calf heifers were removed (6 out
of the 21 that entered the herd).
The culling rate for 2nd lactation
cows was lower, as one would
expect It was 27% (4 out of 15).
The highest culling rate was in the
YEARLY SUMMARY OF COWS ENTERING AND LEAVING THE HERD
COWS
ITERING HERD
AVERAGE
AGE
NUMBER
35
24
40
cows
LEFT HERO
LOW
PROP.
NUMBER
DAIRY
36
3rd lactation and older group. It
was 46% (11 out of 24).
What should the culling or
removal rate be? The above fig
ures would suggest it should be
somewhere around 25-30%.'
Below 25% you don’t save much
on replacement costs and you are
not introducing enough new gene
tics to the herd. These guidelines
will vary depending on sale value
of cattle and on why cows leave
the herd.
Of the reasons listed as to why
cows left the herd, only two of
them are voluntary decisions
made by the owner; they are cows
sold for dairy purposes and cows
sold for low milk production.
Cows sold for dairy purposes
boost cattle sales. Genetically
inferior cows culled for low pro
duction help to upgrade the herd.
Both tend to enhance farm profits.
All of the remaining reasons for
cows leaving the herd can be
termed involuntary decisions; the
farmer didn’t have a choice in the
decisions. The decisions were
made for him by the nature of the
problems in the herd.
These involuntary decisions
can be very costly because of: 1.)
the prior costs of treatments, 2.)
repeat breedings 3.) lost milk pro
duction, 4.) reduction in market
value of cattle sold, and 5.)
because of the premature loss of
good genetic stock.
It would be nice to be able to
sell at- least half of these cows vol
untarily for dairy purposes or for
low milk production. If we look at
Table 1, we can see that only 4 of
the 21 cows that left the herd were
sold voluntarily. That’s only 19%!
The bulk of the culling decisions
(81 %) were made by the problems
cows have, not by the farmer!
This is a disturbing trend that
faces many dairymen, and one that
challenges all segments of the
industry. We need to work harder
to keep good cows in the herd
longer.
Penn State is an affirmative
action, equal opportunity
university.
NUMBER OF COWS LEAVING THE HERD
DISEASE
INJURY
REPO
PFA/FB Has
CAMP HILL (Cumberland
Co.) The 43rd annual meeting
of the Pennsylvania Farmers’
Association (PFA) will take place
Nov. 15-17 at the Hershey Lodge
and Convention Center, Hershey.
Several hundred farm leaders,
including 169 voting delegates,
will gather to elect officers and set
policies for the statewide farm
organization. PFA is a voluntary,
general farm organization which
provides information, services and
a voice in public affairs to 23.542
farm and rural families.
Voting delegates will be tack
ling grass-roots policy resolutions
which originated in PFA’s 54
county associations on a wide
range of farm issues. Delegates
will also be considering by-laws
amendments including a recom
mendation to change the name of
the organization to the Pennsylva
nia Farm Bureau. PFA is part of
the nationwide American Farm
Bureau Federation (AFBF).
Almost all of AFBF’s state orga
nizations use the “Farm Bureau”
name.
Vodng delegates will elect a
PFA vice president and directors
for eight of the 16 districts repre
sented by the PFA State Board of
Directors. Corresponding vacan
cies on the PFA State Women’s
Committee will be filled by
CREAMERY (Montgomery
Co.) The last southeast Pen
nsylvania pasture walk for the
1993 grazing season will be at
Brian and Brenda Moyer’s farm in
Montgomery County on Novem
ber 18 at 9:30 a.m.
This walk will feature late fall
and early winter grazing, A no-till
seeding of turnips into tall fescue
will be grazed on the farm.
The late July seeding looks
excellent Brian and Brenda Moy
er are experienced graziers work
ing with 36 cows. The 25 Hols
teins and nine Jerseys have a com-
MAST, on
UDDCT
PEST A
LEGS
Year’s Last Southeast
Pasture Walk Set
e MKK.IT DOES A BOOT GOOD.'
MIDDLE ATLANTIC MILK MARKETING ASSOCIATION, INC.
Fertrell Company
Box 215, Bainbridge, Pennsylvania
(717) 367-1566
Full Agenda
appointment at the annual
meeting.
In addition to business, the PFA
annual meeting agenda will
include information conferences,
guest speakers and special events.
A “Measure the Candidates”
forum is to be conducted during
the annual meeting, featuring
announced candidates from both
parties for the 1994 governor’s
race.
Planning to participate are U.S.
Rep. Tom Ridge. Lt. Gov. Mark
Singe), state Sens. Earl Baker and
Mike Fisher, state Rep. Bob
O'Donnell, State Attorney Gener
al Ernie Preate and businessman
Charles Volpe.
PFA will present awards during
the annual meeting for Distin
guished Service to Agriculture
and the Outstanding Young Far
mer competition. The top county
in farmers’ association program
achievement will be honored with
the All Star award. Information
conferences will take place
throughout the three-day event,
covering topics ranging from farm
financial planning and farm safety
to crime prevention and Ag in the
Classroom.
The PFA annual meeting will
conclude Wednesday, Nov, 17,
with the election of officers and
final adoption of policies for the
organization.
bined herd average of 17,000
pound of milk.
During the grazing season, the
herd receives little stored feed.
Following the walk, a slide
show will be presented on suc
cessful grazing throughout Pen
nsylvania. The Moyer’s farm is
located close to the village of
Elroy on Allentown Rd. between
Rt. 113 and Rt. 63.
For more information about the
walk and directions to the Moy
er’s farm, contact Tim Fritz in
Montgomery County at (2IS)
489-4315.
o t o*» c#A