Penn State Cooperative Extension Capitol Region Dairy Team DAIRY ANIMALS ARE ALSO BEEF ANIMALS Galen Kopp Extension Agent Dairy/Livestock Lebanon County Dairy culling decisions are often defined by compelling forces that have historically been milk price, stall availability, and the cost and availability of re placement animals. Thus, profita ble culling is often not recognized or practiced because it is viewed as a negative cost instead of a positive opportunity. And the ani mal removed is viewed as salvage with little value. Nothing could be further from the truth. Much of the beef from cull cows is processed into ground beef. When mixed with fed beef trimmings, this product repre sents 43 percent of all beef con- * WOODS 2240 Shermans Valley Road, P.O. 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It’s A Human Health Issue The way dairies approach their culling and treatment decisions has become a human health issue in perception and reality. Because of the public focus on food safety and animal health issues, packers are beginning to require produc ers to certify that they have fol lowed FDA regulations concern ing drug use and meat withdrawal as well as certifying that the animals were fed in accordance with the FDA ban on feeding ruminant-derived protein Galen Kopp (meat and bone meal) to cattle or other ruminants. Good managers recognize that the same management and cul ling practices that assure beef quality also contribute to dairy profitability. When voluntary cul ling decisions are put off, the re sult is more “forced” removals on the market. By then, substantial value to the beef industry and profit opportunities for the pro ducer are lost. Plus, the animal poses a risk to consumer confi dence. Safeguard And Dairy Image Expansion competition for limited replacements and the flexibility of modern dairy sys tems add to the prevalence of “forced” culls on the market. As physical constraints such as facili ty space become less compel ling factors, the broader eco nomic and image factors of keeping the marginal dairy cow become more compel ling. The low-milk or disease compromised cow loses car cass value daily as she either becomes too fat, too thin, or more lame. The decision to keep or cull an animal should include assessing her envi ronmental cost to the land limited operation and the public image her deteriorated market condition conveys about the dairy and beef in dustries. faster Sa‘tuVdaV. ffdtbber tsf^bb3-/$/ Recognize Profitable Culling Culling and replacement are critical management areas, ac counting for 20 to 25 percent of the operating costs of a dairy sec ond only to feed costs. Returns from the sale of cull cows repre sent 4 percent of total returns for the average dairy operation, according to statistics from the 1999 National Market Cow and Bull Quality Audit. A comprehensive, timely ap proach to culling, which results in more voluntary decisions and fewer “forced” removals, has been shown to increase net re turns per cow for the entire dairy herd. “Culling is a complex decision, and we often do not recognize profitable culling,” said Dr. David Gallagan, associate profes sor, animal health economics, University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center. “The gray zone cow in a milking herd can be as costly as any subclinical disease. Every day, a cow faces that deci sion, and every day the producer intentionally or nonintentionally makes that decision. We want to step back and look at this as a new disease the failure to make the right decision to maintain the right combination of cows in pro duction.” Dairy animals eventually do become beef animals. Quality de fects such as bruising, abscesses, inflammation, and condemnation have a pervasive negative effect on the price that beef processors can pay for cows. According to the 1999 Quality Audit, approxi mately 2 percent of all slaughter cows are condemned by USDA. But, among the very thin and dis abled cows, condemnation loss is 40 percent. Make Decisions Early These losses can be prevented by culling animals with health conditions earlier. Animals that become disabled, have terminal conditions, or have not passed their treatment meat residue withdrawal period must be eutha nized, not marketed. It’s difficult to remove the emo tional aspects that underlay these decisions. Marketing cows before that certain loss of body weight is important, but it means you’re making the decision before you’ve given up hope on her. Pay Attention To Condition Selling the marginal cow before she becomes too thin benefits the dairy producer, the beef packer, and the consumer. Cows in the 2.5 to 3.0 body condition score (BCS) range produce the most valuable carcasses for beef pro cessing. As cows become thinner and drop below 2.5, they become weaker and are more likely to be come disabled during transit. They are also more likely to incur substantial losses from bruising, abscesses, inflammation, and con demnation. Herd studies indicate that a high percentage of culls are mar keted in early lactation, many of them disease-compromised “forced” removals. According to the 1999 Quality Audit, 72.5 per cent of dairy cull cows had inade quate muscling and 5.4 percent of all dairy cull cows were in a seri ous negative energy balance with insufficient body condition scores of 1. These extremes can be prevent ed. Through better management and timely culling, dairy produc ers can reap an additional 5 per cent in cull cow income with out adding costs to the operation. Double Benefits, Not Losses Just as sound nutritional man agement improves the overall health and performance of the milking animal, it also improves her value as a beef animal. The tough but critical part is making the voluntary decision before body condition deteriorates. In beef value alone, timely cul ling increases producer revenue in two ways by weight (pounds) and by value (per pound). Better body condition puts the animal into a more valuable beef process ing class. The double benefit is a difference of $144 between the timely decision and the “forced” removal 30 days later. Think of it this way. That $144 difference based on condition alone is equivalent to 1,100 pounds of $l3 milk. Now include the cost to keep her milking, and she would have to make 60 pounds a day for the next 30 days to offset declining beef value. When low milk cows are kept past break-even, or disease-com promised cows are kept until they are overtly biologically broken, they incur double losses for the dairy. They are not put- ting income back into the operation, and they are taking up space that a more productive ani mal could be using. Even the apparently healthy low milk cow can quick ly lose value as she gains weight instead of mak ing milk with the energy she consumes. The per-pound beef value diminishes rapidly as cows approach BCS 4 and 5. “With our cows, we’ve mainly learned not to hold heavier animals quite as long,” said Jeff Grove. Jeff and his brother Jay milk 175 cows near Shippensburg. They pay attention to why cull cows bring the prices they do. Producers benefit when they view culling decisions as a positive, productive, and profita ble function of dairy management and view themselves as contribu tors of valued beef prod ucts instead of salvage price-takers. Source: The Pennsyl vania Beef Council and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
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