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May 20, 2004 Market Advisor: Cow-calf Drought Management Planning Is Important
Cold, windy, dry conditions in ND this spring have limited pasture growth, and have cattle producers wondering about stocking rates for this summer. Individual cow-calf producers have no control over market prices and weather, although both are important factors which affect profitability. No one can accurately predict the weather, so producers need to develop a drought management plan that can implement factors they do have control over. Choices that need to be made during a drought are difficult because they all involve increased costs, decreased returns or both compared to a normal year. Furthermore, decisions that hindsight tell us were correct in previous drought years may not be applicable due to the timing of the cattle cycle. Market prices for most market classes of cattle, including cows and feeder cattle, are cyclically higher than they have been for several years. Prices are expected to stay at profitable levels for the next several years, so maintaining a viable cow herd should be a goal. Forced sales of cattle will bring good prices, but plans to rebuild herds next year may involve paying even higher prices for replacements. Once the decision has been made that there will not be enough feed for the existing cow herd, producers need to evaluate potential alternatives. Options may include liquidating cow-calf pairs; hauling cattle to leased pastures in non-drought areas; grazing hay land, small grain crops, annual forage crops or CRP; and purchasing additional feed. Those suffering the most extreme drought conditions probably have the fewest alternatives. Dry-lotting cows and calves and purchasing all the feed may be necessary in those areas. Producers in less hard hit areas may get by with supplemental feeding and/or creep feeding calves. Hauling purchased feed to cattle or hauling cattle to feed are costly, so careful calculations are necessary. One of the hardest decisions to make is to cull potentially productive cows, so a systematic approach should be taken. Whether to sell some or all of a herd that may have taken years to build is a decision that is unique to each producer and a blanket recommendation cannot be made. However, the following guidelines should be considered. Obviously, the least productive animals, including cows that have structural or production problems, have low body condition scores, or are old, should be culled first. Since both feed quantity and quality is short, cows with the highest nutritional requirements should also be considered for selling. For example, heifers may have the highest nutritional requirements; and may re-breed at the lowest rates, and wean the lightest calves when forage is limited. The goal should be to maintain a core of the most productive, genetically superior cows. A good record keeping system will make this task easier. Realistically, most producers will decide on a combination of alternatives rather than just one. Some of the less productive cattle may be sold, others grazed on available alternative forages and some may be dry-lotted, such as early weaning calves. These decisions are extremely difficult and should be thoroughly analyzed. Producers with existing loans should discuss the alternatives with their lender. Those deciding to sell cows and/or calves should contact the auction market operator well in advance of the sale because cow-calf pairs or lightweight calves are unique market classes and this is not a traditional time to market those cattle. ### Source: Tim
Petry, (701) 231-7469, tpetry@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
Market Advisor: |
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North Dakota State University |
