NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

December 23, 1999

The Market Advisor: Calving Date Research and Heifer Development Are Meeting Highlights

Harlan Hughes, Extension Livestock Economist
NDSU Extension Service

My last Market Advisor focused on three of the presentations I heard at the recent North Dakota/Montana Bovine Connection For Profit meeting in Sidney, Mont. My hope is that producers can learn from them just as I did. This Market Advisor will focus on two additional presentations presented at that conference.

One of the basic decisions a cow/calf producer faces is the optimum calving time for his herd. The length of the breeding season may very from completely unrestricted to very restricted. As the breeding season becomes more restricted, it becomes more and more important to decide when breeding will occur. Robert Short, an animal scientist at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service's lab in Miles City, discussed the economic and biological implications of calving time.

Short studied the effects of calving in February, April, and June. The summer calving group was included to study the decrease in harvested forages and other feeds needed with summer calving. The feed savings should come from more closely aligning the nutrient peak requirements of the cow with the nutrients available from grazed forage.

Nutrient requirements of beef cows are highest about 30 days after calving and decrease to their lowest point after weaning. Short indicates that because of seasonal grass patterns in the northern plains, the earlier a cow calves before June, the less synchronized her nutrient requirements are with available range forage. Short's observations cause me to really think about the Integrated Resource Management (IRM) cooperators with January-born calves. My IRM data suggests that early calvers are typically high-cost producers.

Short reported the preliminary first-year data on his three-year study. Pregnancy rates for the first year were 80.5 percent for the winter-calving cows, 85.0 percent for the spring-calving cows and 88.1 percent for the summer-calving cows. The preliminary 180-day weaning weights were 464 pounds for the winter cows, 466 pounds for spring cows and 405 pounds for the summer cows.

Knowing input costs is critical for determining profitability of winter, spring or summer calving cows. No production costs were reported for the first year of the study but economic costs will be included in the final report of the three-year study. Short suggests that the optimum calving date may change as the cost of corn and grass change. Short's total article is available free from my secretary, Paulann, at (701) 231-7393.

North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas and Texas are all researching the production (and I hope the economics) of different calving dates. Stay tuned.

Patsy Houghton, general manager of Heartland Cattle Company in McCook, Neb., gave a presentation titled Making Cows Out Of Heifers. The Heartland Cattle Company focuses on custom and contractual heifer development and is involved in research to investigate advances in nutritional, health and reproductive-management programs.

Houghton suggests the replacement heifer is a mixed blessing for most cow-calf operators. On the one hand, the replacement heifer represents the future profitability and genetic improvement of the herd. On the other hand, the replacement heifer's smaller size and higher nutritional requirements dictate that she be raised and managed separately from the rest of the herd. Through my work with IRM cooperators, however, I've observed that many beef cow producers fail to recognize the unique needs of replacement heifers and keep them combined with the mature cows.

Houghton suggests seven reasons why proper heifer management is important:

1. Reduced breeding costs. Stringent culling eliminates poor replacement prospects before time, labor and expenses are invested in replacement heifers. Before breeding, Heartland Cattle Company culls 3 to 9 percent of replacement heifers for small pelvic areas, infantile reproductive tracts or various functional soundness problems. Culling the potential non-breeders early increases cash flow and reduces carrying costs.
2. Increased conception rates. Houghton suggests that only early born, growthy heifers should be kept as replacement prospects. Prebreeding soundness exams combined with proper nutritional development results in higher first-service conception rates and heifer pregnancy rates. Data from Kansas State University and Heartland Cattle Company indicate that proper heifer development increases pregnancy rate by an average of 8 percent.
3. Heavier calves at weaning. Houghton suggests that estrus synchronization results in an earlier average conception date that translates into older, heavier calves at weaning. On the other hand, it is important to remember that calves with superior growth genetics are not necessarily excessively large-framed cattle. The key is to identify moderate-framed cattle with superior growth traits that still have the ability to reach puberty at an early age.
4. More uniform calf crop. Houghton says the use of high accuracy EPD (Expected Progeny Differences) sires results in a calf crop with uniform genetics for growth, frame, muscle etc. This leads to increased quality and predictability of steers and heifers and makes retained ownership a viable option.
5. Decreased bull costs. With artificial insemination as part of the heifer development program, fewer bulls will be purchased and maintained by the cow-calf producer. According to Colorado State University research, the use of artificial insemination can result in savings when compared to natural service breeding programs.
6. Less calving difficulty. Houghton says that data collected from Kansas State University and Heartland Cattle Company indicate an average improvement in weaned calf crop of 5 percent and an average improvement in rebreeding for the second calf of 8 percent when heifers are placed in a program with proper nutritional development along with estrus synchronization and artificial insemination.
7. Decreased labor at calving. Houghton suggests that heifers which undergo estrus synchronization will calve in a shorter time period. This decreases the labor required at calving and increases the amount of time that can be devoted to other enterprises. More importantly, a concentrated calving season simplifies subsequent nutrition and health programs for ranchers.

Houghton also outlines 18 steps that ranchers can take to achieve the heifer development program I've outlined. Likewise, a copy of Houghton's complete paper is available free from my secretary, Paulann, at (701) 231-7393.

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Source: Harlan Hughes (701) 231-7380
Editor: Tom Jirik (701) 231-9629