The cull cow is a very valuable commodity. With beef processors now paying up to 287p for well-fleshed R grading cows, prices are running 16p/kg to 18p/kg ahead of last year. On a 360kg carcase, this is an increase of £65

For the year to date the average price paid has increased by £58 per head when compared with the average for 2016. However, it is some £113 back on the strong prices obtained in 2015 and pretty much on par with those of 2014.

While prices fluctuate year to year beyond our control, what we do control is how we present and market our cull cows. It is amazing the disregard some farmers still have when selling the cull cow. It is nearly a case of trying to get rid of them as quickly and as easily as possible.

Plan ahead to increase the value of your cull cows by £100

We talk about the importance of maximising output all the time, yet most of this is focused on young stock – increasing the number of calves produced each year and maximising liveweight gains.

However, if we take into account that suckler farms replace between 10% and 20% of the cow herd each year, a sizable proportion of farm output can come in the form of cull cows.

To maximise farm output and/or offset the increased costs of replacements, it is essential that suckler farmers improve how they market cull cows. Farmers need to be as market-focused when selling cull cows as they are when selling weanlings.

Consider the average suckler cow coming into the shed having worked hard all year, especially in the second half of this wet season. Without getting any preferential treatment, this cow will be in her working clothes weighing around 650kg.

If we are to kill her in the morning, she will kill out at about 50%, grade an O+ and come into somewhere around £875.

So what are our options for increasing the value of these animals leaving the system?

1 Sell live directly after weaning

We have to accept that not all farmers have the option of carrying cull cows over the winter due to either limited housing, bedding or feed reserves.

There is no point in housing cull cows and adding value at one end if, as a consequence, you have other stock standing outside eating spring grass because you have no space to house or successfully out-winter them.

However, there is no excuse for throwing under-fleshed cows directly to the abattoir. These animals should be given as much preferential treatment as possible before being sold in the live market.

Decent-quality continental cows in need of some feeding will make between £1.40/kg and £1.45/kg, potentially returning £942. Subtracting fees would leave a take-home price of £915, an increase of £40/cow.

2 House and feed for 50 days on ad-lib silage plus 4kg of meal

On average, you are looking at a cow consuming 45kg of silage per day when offered ad-lib. Therefore, over a 50-day period, she will consume 2.25t of silage. At £30/t, this represents a cost of £68.

At 4kg/head/day, each cow will consume 200kg of concentrate. At a cost of £190/t, you are looking at investing £38/head in additional feed costs.

However, in return for the additional investment, the grade profile of the cow will be improved. Instead of grading O+, the additional feeding and cover will increase the conformation score to R, with fat score increasing to 3=. Overall carcase weight will increase by 25kg plus a lift in kill-out proportion by two percentage points will lead to a carcase weight of 360kg. Taking this week’s quoted beef price for R3 cows of £2.90/kg, the cow will average £1,044. When the additional feed costs are deducted, the average value is £938, an increase of £63/cow.

3 Wean earlier and feed for a month to six weeks

While this option may be too late for this year, it is worth looking at what effect the decision to wean the calves from the cull cows in late September would have had on increasing cull value.

By doing this we could have kept the cull cows on good-quality grass and introduced meals for four to five weeks. Then they would have been fit for slaughter directly off grass. In this case, a feeding rate of 3kg concentrate per day for a period of 40 days is assumed. At £190/t, this requires an investment of £23.

The extra meal feeding and earlier weaning would increase the conformation and far score, pushing conformation to an R and fat score 3H. Carcase weight has been increased by 20kg due to additional feeding and kill-out proportion.

Based again on the current R3 price of £2.90/kg, the average value of the cows at slaughter would be £1,015 or £992 when additional feed costs are factored into the equation. This is £117 above the initial scenario described above.

Simply by forward planning and managing culling and weaning, there is scope to increase the value of cull cows by £117/head.

Now is the time to identify next year’s culls

This is the ideal time to identify cull cows in the spring herd.

The first thing to select for is calf quality. If still on farm, go through your weaned calves and identify which calves are not up to standard either in terms of weight or calf quality.

If the weanlings have been sold, look at weaning weights and price received per head, not per kilo, as an indicator of cows that are earning their keep. The mothers of these under-performing calves should be identified and investigated. Why did they produce the worst calves in the herd?

Valid reason

In some cases there may be a valid reason, eg the calf got scour or pneumonia and never made a full recovery.

However, in most cases, poor weaning weights will be down to the fact that the cow simply didn’t have enough milk. By allowing these underperforming cows to remain in the herd you are accepting that you will use the profit generated from the cows that are doing a good job to prop up the inefficient cows.

Herd improvement is critical to improving viability.

Ruthless culling is a vital part of herd improvement. As a rough rule of thumb, if you removed the worst 20% of cows form your herd and replaced them with heifers equivalent to the top 20% of the cows in the herd, you will double profitability.

Functionality

Cows should be culled on functionality issues. Cows with big bottle teats, blind quarters, and hanging udders should be earmarked for culling. These cows will only increase labour and/or mortality.

A newborn calf is much less likely to receive adequate levels of colostrum where the dam had big bottle teats and a droopy udder.

Cows that are poor on their feet should also be earmarked for culling especially where housing on slats or grazing fodder crops outdoors.

The ear tag number of all cows for culling should be recorded.

It is good practice to put a coloured management tag in the ear of these cows that indicates that they are not put with the bull next year.

Allowing them to run with the main herd next year during the breeding season allows them the chance to go back in calf and remain in the herd for another year. If you know these cows will be empty come next back-end, the decision has been made and it’s final.