Farming, Saturday,, August 13 1994
fßeef Briefs
-f'
PLANNING THE
FALL HEALTH
PROGRAM
The recent bovine viral diarrhea
(BVD) outbreak in Pennsylvania
has again emphasized the need to
plan an effective fall health prog
ram for the beef cow-calf herd.
Recent reports in some of the
beef journals have encouraged the
use of prevaccination and precon
ditioning of beef calves as an
effective tool to prevent disease in
feedlot and backgrounded cattle.
How do you do this and what is it
worth?
The purpose of preconditioning
or prevaccinating calves is to help
alleviate the stress they experience
at weaning, shipment, and adjust
ment to a feedlot environment
while simultaneously building
resistance against some of the
causes of disease that result from
this stress, particularly repiratory
disease. Preconditioning also
implies the calves are castrated,
implanted, dehorned, weaned, and
started on feed at least three weeks
prior to sale and/or shipment. All
weaned beef calves should be
castrated and dehorned well before
weaning the cost is too little
compared to the discount on the
sale price when these jobs are not
done. That leaves vaccination and
weaning to meet preconditioning
guidelines.
The cash cost of a complete pre
conditioning program will be
about $3O-$4O per calf. This
includes a high quality grain feed
to be fed for 3-4 weeks and two
rounds of a vaccination program
that would include IBR, B VD, PI3,
BRS V, H. Somnus, pasturella, and
a 7-way clostridial. Other costs
that may be added are implants,
wormers, and treatment costs for
any calves that get sick before you
sell them. The non-cash costs
would include interest, labor, and
death loss you may incur.
There are only a couple of ways
to recapture these costs; receiving
a higher price per pound for the
calves, selling heavier calves, or
both.
Preconditioning has been
around for many years, but one of
the reasons that it has failed in the
past is because the calf owner was
not compensated for the additional
costs.
To make preconditioning and
prevaccinalion programs work for
you, there must be some market
planning involved. Two instances
that would usually make this prog
ram feasible would be if you retain
ownership of the calves and feed
them out yourself (particularly at
another location), or if you are sell
ing calves directly off the farm to a
fccdlot operator. In the latter case,
the fccdlot owner may provide the
drugs and feed.
There are special electronic
sales in West Virginia and Virginia
that capitalize on these programs.
Most of the buyers recognize the
value of prccondilioed calves to
their feeding enterprise and pay
more for them. If you use these
markets, find out if there is a spe
cial prevaccination of precondi
tioned sale that would work for
by
John Comerford
Penn State Beef Specialist
ably should not consider prevacci
nation or preweaning because you
probably will not get paid for your
trouble.
At most of these sales, calves
are bought in smaller groups and
then combined into larger grops
for shipment and feeding. As a
result, some are treated and some
are not, and the feedlot operator
can’t tell the difference.
A Telltale Sign
I recently had the opportunity to
participate in a program in Lancas
ter County in which some steers
were viewed live by the audience,
and then everyone was invited
back a couple of nights later to
view the carcasses.
These programs are always a
very enlightening experience for
those who know little about eva
luating carcass traits in a live ani
mal. and they usually serve as an
humbling experience for those
who think they do.
One particular steer continues to
stand out in my mind from that
program. He was a big one he
weighed I,6SS pounds. There were
a lot of “oohs” and “ahhs” when he
walked in he was well-finished,
high grading, high dressing. Just
the kind to top the market and
make the feeder a lot of money
or so it seemed.
The steer did dress well 63.4
percent and a cattle buyer indi
cated he would be worth about
$3/cwt more than the average
steer. Then the roof caved in. He
had a yield grade of 5.2, a carcass
weight just over 1,000 pounds, and
had 1.1 inches of fat over his rib.
He graded Choice, but just barely.
The carcass weight and yield
grade dock on the steer was about
SIS/cwl The additional cost of
putting that extra fat and weight on
the steer was about $4/cwt for the
last 400 pounds. With a reasonable
amount of feed cost to put that last
400 pounds on him, the total
expected cost to feed that steer to
the heavier weight would be about
$2BO. When we add the $l5O dock
he took for being too big and fat,
the total goes to $430. If we had
sold the steer at 1,265 pounds for
$6O/cwt and compared that to the
$3 “premium” we got for putting
on another 400 pounds, the differ
ence in value was about $290. Our
so-called “market topping” steer
lost about $l4O.
Who lost that $140? I think we
all know it wasn’t the feed com
pany or the packer. The truth is this
kind of steer is everything that is
wrong with some of the cattle in
our industry.
We have had some down mark
ets in the industry lately, and inef
ficient feeding, big carcasses, fat,
and poor business management are
contributing factors.
The industry is swiftly moving
toward a value-based system of
pricing fed cattle. The feeder who
sends these kind to town will find
he will no longer be able to afford
to stay in business.
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
On June 12, the Northeast
Ratite Association held its first
semindr at the Days Inn.
The speakers at the seminar
were Pat Hoctor, editor of the Ani
mal Finder’s Guide; Donald
Jones, Sherry Stanley from Trans-
Global Ostrich Products, LTD.;
Dr. Jagne, New Bolton Center;
Gregg Smith, Southern Cross
Emus; and Cindy Shaw, Morning
Star Ranch.
Hoctor spoke on the Rhea man
agement and the USDA. Hoctor
also discussed the formula, for
ratite feed, which was developed
by Dr. Duane Ullrey for the San
Diego Zoo.
Donald Jones, spoke on his
adventures in Ostrich farming. He
stated that he traveled to South
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Ratite Association
Holds First Seminar
Africa to find out what it was all
about. While there, he traveled to
several Ostrich farms to see how
they handled the Ostrichs.
Sherry Stanley spoke on
Ostrich Natural Plus feeds which
was developed by Mark Rosen
feld, PH.D. She then explained the
purpose of the ingredients and
how it effected egg production,
fertility, embryo development,
and growth of the ratites.
Dr. Jagne discussed some of the
more common problems of ratites
and also explained both causes
and cures for ratite disease. Dr.
Jagne also explained the services
offered by the New Bolton Center.
One such services was the testing
of eggs for disease and complete
necropsies, which cost only $2O
for any number of birds submitted
*•* S? ■»
339
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MASSEY FERGUSON
R.W. KELLER
SALES
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(610) 287*0101
at one time.
Greg Smith spoke on Emu
fanning in Australia. Smith dis
cussed farming techniques and
also Emus in the wild. He noted
that all Emus in Australia were
descendant from five pairs taken
out of the wild in 1970. He also
noted that the best age to slaughter
Emu was 14 months, but at 16
months you would get more oil
from the bird.
Cindy Shaw spoke about the
research behind Emu and Rhea
products. She noted that Rhea oil
was being used in baby formula
and Emu oil was being used in
bum creams. Also noted was the
fact that Emu and Rhea meat held
up well when frozen, being inva
luable for the growing frozen food
industry.
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