Weight Gain in the First 28 Days after Weaning on Five Commercial Cow-Calf Farms

Abstract

The last three years have seen large increases in the costs to keep a cow calf pair for a year. Annual costs have risen from $325-$400 per cow calf pair per year to $475-$550 per cow calf pair (SPA data) over the last three years. These increases have occurred at the same time as a downturn in the price per pound of beef calves. Calf prices in 2008 averaged $0.07 per pound less than 2008 prices and for the last quarter of 2008 averaged $0.07 less than the 10 year average for calf prices (data from Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services). Reducing expenses alone will not allow producers to maintain profitability in most cases. In order to have revenue exceed the cost of production, cow calf producers must find ways to increase the value of the calves they sell. Preconditioning programs offer one opportunity for producers to increase the net value of the calves they sell. Over a 12 year period calves sold through a preconditioning program brought $46 per head more than calves marketed the same week that had not been preconditioned (data from Virginia Quality Assured Program). The single biggest hurdle to participating in a preconditioning program is weaning calves. Weaning calves on the farm is no longer a common practice for most small to mid-size producers. These calves are instead commonly marketed directly off the cow. The dogma has become that weaning calves is not worth it because it will take 30 days for calves to put the weight back on that they lose during the weaning process. This project was designed to demonstrate that it is possible to wean calves under a variety of conditions and have those calves gain weight during the 28 days following weaning.