CATTLEFAX TRENDS
TIGHT CALVING DISTRIBUTION
BENEFITS
The IBBA is proud to bring you the CattleFax Trends Publication. Look for this article each month in the Brangus Journal and Frontline Beef Producer. If you would like to learn more about CattleFax, please go to www.cattlefax.com. Calving is a stressful yet rewarding time of the year, as producers get the first glimpse of the mating decisions that were made nearly a year ago. Many sleepless nights and potential weather challenges can make calving season seem like it drags on forever. However, calving season should create the opposite feeling. There are several benefits to setting the cowherd up for a tight calving distribution. The advantages to a shorter calving window positively impacts the cows, calves, labor resources, and ultimately an operation’s bottom line. In a perfect world, most of the cows would calve within 45 days, while a more practical target is 60 days. The results from CattleFax’s annual Cow-Calf Survey show about 4345% of producers were able to achieve a 45-day calving season the last few years. Obviously, this is not feasible for every operation due to constraints from a logistics or facilities standpoint. CattleFax breaks down the survey participants into three equal groups – high, average, and low – return producers, based on profitability. Last year, nearly half of the most profitable operations calved within 45 days, while another 36% were mostly completed by day 60. This left only 16% of high return producers that had a calving season that lasted 61 days or more. On the other hand, nearly a quarter of the least profitable operations calve for more than 61 days. The main reason highreturn producers are placed in that category is because they find a way to be the most efficient. Those operations sell the most pounds – which is a function of headcount and weight, while still keeping costs in check. A lot of the reason for generating the most revenue stems to a tighter calving window. There are many factors that impact one 44
August 2021
of the most important measurements – weaned calves per cows exposed – but the accompanying chart shows there is a clear relationship between calf crop percentage and calving season length. This is mostly due to cows having more time to recover after calving. While the 2 percentage points from the middle and last interval in 2020 may not seem like much, it has a significant impact on profitability. For a 400-head cow operation, that is an additional eight calves to market and eight fewer replacements needed to maintain the herd. If replacements are retained from the calf crop, that also means more heifers are available to sell. Over the years it is easy to see that high-return producers do not sacrifice nutrition and herd health, allowing those operations to maximize calf crop percent while still maintaining a short calving season. High-return operations are not only improving nutrition but improving nutrition management. For example, the day a cow gives birth, her nutrition requirements change drastically. Operations that separate cows and their calves from the still pregnant cows
