Suckler farmers with summer- and autumn-calving cows that have not gone back in-calf should be considering what options are available to them to deal with these animals.

The first, and most straightforward, option would be to wean any summer- or autumn-calving cows that are empty and market them immediately.

The second option would be to hold these cows and intensively finish them within a 30- to 60-day period. Doing that assumes there is sufficient fodder available this spring.

The final option is to hold cows over so they slip to the spring-calving herd, if one exists on the farm. These cows can then go to the bull in June.

However, this final option is not an economical way to operate a suckler herd as repeatedly letting cows slip from spring to autumn calving, and vice versa, increases production costs and reduces herd output.

More often than not, the number of barren cows will be small. Therefore, it will be more cost-effective to cash these cows in now and replace them with in-calf heifers or cows from a known herd to maintain breeding numbers.

Economics

The economics of finishing cows compared with selling them live will depend on a number of factors, such as:

  • The type of cow.
  • The age of the cow.
  • Body condition at the outset of the finishing period.
  • Price of concentrates and availability of silage.
  • Market prices.
  • Movement restrictions due to TB will also determine whether you can sell cows live or have to retain for finishing.

    Maximising value

    The type of cow that is commanding higher prices in the live trade is a beef-sired continental cow carrying plenty of body condition or close to being slaughter-fit.

    Younger cows are realising higher prices than older cows, with specialist finishers most active on animals under 60 months of age.

    Cows with some level of dairy genetics are a steadier trade compared with their continental-bred counterparts, and the differential between factory and mart prices on these animals is not as big.

    Price

    Prices on offer at most marts will see cows selling from a general range of 150p/kg to 170p/kg for R grading animals with U grade cows making up to 190p/kg.

    Prices up to 200p/kg are being paid at the top end of the market on select animals with extreme conformation, but this is not reflective of the normal trade.

    Plainer cows with lower conformation, older cows and beef-sired animals sourced from the dairy herd that require further feeding, are selling from 120p/kg to 140p/kg.

    These animals will benefit from a short feeding period prior to sale to increase buyer interest and add value.

    At local factories, prices being paid are in the range of 280p/kg to 290p/kg on O grade animals with R grade cows making 300p/kg. Prices are running up to 320p/kg on U grades.

    Taking a kill-out of 50%, the outlined factory prices would make R grading cows worth around 150p/kg in the live trade, and O grade animals worth 140p/kg.

    Therefore, if cows are of sufficient quality to meet the requirements of specialist finishers, there is potentially more to be gained by selling cull cows live.

    Making the decision to sell live now or feed on

    The cull cow trade has been extremely strong since autumn 2017 on the back of robust demand for manufacturing beef.

    Selling cows live now is the simplest option for farmers. The mart also gives those who do not regularly finish cattle, and have limited numbers to offload, a strong, viable alternative. But, is there an opportunity to add value to the stock offered for sale?

    Weaned

    With summer-calving cows, they should be weaned by now and can be offloaded at the first opportunity.

    Autumn-calving cows will still be sucking a calf. But if the cow is empty and her calf is around 250kg liveweight, then it would be beneficial to wean now, especially if the calf is eating 2kg to 3kg of concentrate daily.

    Early weaning will prevent the cow from losing excessive body condition trying to sustain milk production, especially where average-quality silage is being fed.

    Value

    Taking a five-year-old cow that has 100% continental breeding, in good body condition and with the ability to put on more weight, then a live price of 170p/kg would be a realistic return through the mart.

    On a 700kg cow, this would give a sale value of £1,190. Transport and fees have to be deducted from this.

    The equivalent factory price on a 364kg carcase (52% kill-out) would be approximately 327p/kg. Therefore, the mart might be the best option for these type of cows.

    Plainer cows

    For a plainer cow, perhaps with some dairy breeding, that is of similar weight at 700kg, and is in reasonable body condition, a price of 140p/kg would be more reflective of the live market.

    This gives a live value of £980 before costs, which is the equivalent of 280p/kg in the factory, and reflective of current prices paid for O grading cows.

    Therefore, the main benefit from selling live at this stage, would be the immediate saving on purchased feed, silage, housing space and labour.

    Short feeding period

    But is there an option to make more on these cows? If sucklers are healthy, and have good legs and feet, they can respond quickly to meal feeding after weaning.

    Offering 5kg/day of rolled barley or concentrates over a 30- to 60-day period should help to improve body condition and increase sale value.

    At the outlined feed rate, concentrates should probably be split into a morning and evening feed to avoid digestive upsets.

    At a cost of £190/t for a purchased finishing ration, the meal costs over a 30-day period will amount to £28.50. Silage costs at £30/t and a daily intake of 30kg, will bring total feed costs to £55 per head.

    Assuming that sale weight increases to 720kg, and sale price increases to 150p/kg, then the animal’s sale value in the mart increases to £1,080, or an additional £100.

    Therefore, the potential increase in sale value will more than cover the additional feed costs incurred during the 30-day feeding period.

    Sixty-day finishing

    An intensive 60-day finishing period for a 700kg cow will also add value to the animal. Assuming the cow averages 6kg/day of concentrate (£190/t) and 25kg/day of silage (£30/t) during the finishing period, total feed costs amount to approximately £113.

    Increasing the final liveweight of the cow to 750kg, and with an improved kill-out of 52% as a result of the intensive finishing, will give a carcase weight of 390kg.

    At a factory price of 300p/kg for an R grade animal, the cow will be worth £1,170. This converts to an equivalent price of around 156p/kg in the live ring.

    Whichever sale option is chosen, potentially there is a margin of around £80 per head to be made.

    Therefore, consider your options carefully and carry out some simple price budgets to make the best decision on selling cull cows.

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