Opportunities for Open Cows

 

It’s that time of year when driving along the countryside or sitting in the sale barn cows start to show up with an “O” drawn on her side as the Veterinarian called her open on pregnancy check day. While no one likes to see these cows go, if a calf is not going to be born and weaned the next year, she must be marketed in order to pay the feed bills. The earlier open cows are identified, the more savings are seen on winter feed costs in the main herd. Yet, open cows don’t always mean money is lost. Yes, she isn’t going to wean a calf next year, but if the pencil is put to the paper and marketing plans are implemented soon enough, open cows may still provide some profit going into the winter.

 

The decisions to contemplate when marketing open cows include: selling right away, intensively feeding for a period of time before collecting a check, or breeding for a fall calving herd and marketing to a fall operation. The seasonal low for open/cull cow sales occurs in late fall to early winter (October to January). Therefore, in order to increase profit potential, try to identify and sell open cows before October or design a feeding plan that will add weight and set them up for sale after February.

 

Create a breakeven to determine if it may be more profitable to feed open cows then sell today. Depending on the time of year when cows are identified as open, profit potential will vary. Start by outlining what cows are worth today, what it will cost to feed cows for a few months and what she will weigh when sold. This will give you an idea of where the price needs to be to cover the cost of feeding her and hopefully make a profit.

Depending on the desired body weight and condition to be added prior to sale, different feeding regimens can be implemented. Consider cost of feedstuffs and availability of those over the feeding period, as weight needs to be added at a cost effective rate for profit to be realized.

 

Thin cows will need to go on a high energy ration to begin increase body condition, external fat, intramuscular fat and tenderness at a more efficient rate. Adapt cows from forage ration to a high-energy ration (corn, corn silage, ddgs; 50 Mgal NEg/cwt) over a period of days in order to prevent acidosis. Energy of the ration can continue to increase to 60 – 63 Mcal NEg/cwt over two to three weeks for higher average daily gains. Cows can be fed anywhere from 50 – 100 days but realize feed conversion and average daily gain will vary based on energy in the ration and length of feeding period.

 

In areas where crop residue is plentiful, open cows can graze corn residue at a very low cost. While this will add weight more slowly than high-energy rations, the low expense may work better for some marketing plans. Stocking cows at a rate of 2 acers to head to allow plenty of access to corn residue, paired with a protein supplement to aid digestion may lead to 1.5 lbs of average daily gain.