How to Help Maximize Profits with the Right Cow Size
Management : Cow & Calf
Management : Replacement
Nutrition : Supplements
Cow size has been on the rise for decades. Cows today weigh 1.4 times as much as their predecessors in 1980. In fact, cow weight is rising 100 pounds every 10 years.1
Why has this occurred? Producers get paid for pounds, so “growth-bulls” are selected and the biggest heifers are retained. This has achieved positive outcomes as producers aim to maximize profit by increasing pounds of production and selling heavier calves each year. While this breeding and management strategy has shown its merits, on the output side of the equation, larger cows aren’t always as profitable as you might think.
Larger cow size can come with a larger price tag when you factor in higher inputs and reduced efficiency in pounds weaned. To maximize profit potential, finding the middle ground between the cost of raising larger calves and their value at sale time can be important.
Here are three tips to help you find the optimal cow size for your operation and manage it to improve efficiency:
On the input side, larger cows eat more than smaller cows, resulting in higher costs for feed and forage. The good news is that cows get slightly more efficient per pound as they grow. A 1,500-pound cow is 50% larger in weight, but her energy requirements are only approximately 36% greater than those of a 1,000-pound cow.2 However, the accuracy of this, in practicality, is debatable because of the “boss-cow” effect. Those bigger cows are the dominant cows, and they always will be first on the pecking order for feed resources. In other words, they take more than they need and that “extra” is taken away from the smaller cows.
On the output side, you’re selling bigger calves and getting paid for their increased weight. However, it might cost more to raise those calves. With larger calves, you must respond to their nutritional needs, ensuring they can keep up and continue gaining weight.
Another consideration is that while cow size has been increasing, the percentage of weaning weight for calves hasn’t equally adjusted its ratio to make up for the larger size. Data from North Dakota State University shows that a 1,000-pound cow weans 48.5% of her body weight compared to 43.6% for a 1,400-pound cow.3 Essentially, calves born from larger cows aren’t as efficient as calves born from smaller cows.
Getting a complete picture of inputs and outputs can help you find the sweet spot when it comes to cow size for your operation to maximize profits.
Overstocking can be problematic because cows may not get the nutrients they need from forage. Traditional stocking rates are based on a 1,000-pound mature cow size, yet many cows surpass that threshold today.
Consider this: A 1,500-pound cow is 1.5 times larger than a 1,000-pound cow. This means the larger cow needs about 1.5 times more nutrients than the smaller cow. To meet her forage needs, you would need to increase your stocking rates by 1.5 times.
Adjusting stocking rates can ensure cows aren’t short-changed on nutrients and that pasture resources are used more efficiently. Since most producers can’t easily weigh their cows, it can be challenging to know how much to increase the stocking rates for your specific operation.
Consider investing in a digital or portable scale; this year is a great time to reinvest in your facilities with the added profits from the bullish cattle market. If an on-farm scale isn’t in the cards, consider weighing your herd on the trailer at a local cooperative when hauling your cows to pasture or evaluating cull cow weight using the weights listed on the sale bill.
Bigger cows have more significant nutritional requirements. Meeting their increased nutritional needs can have cascading effects that could lead to improved profitability. Cows managed for optimal body condition scores at calving have been shown to rebreed with 88% or greater conception rates.4 And, by providing adequate nutrition to cows during each stage of gestation, you can better support the calf’s birth and weaning weight, immune function, finishing growth and value to the herd if the calf is kept back. A cattle nutrition program that meets your herd’s requirements helps ensure your genetic investment can be fully maximized, regardless of your average cow size.
Free-choice tub, block or liquid supplements can help you more efficiently meet any nutrient gaps cows might face. Monitoring intakes can also help you manage forages and stocking rates. If cows are eating more of the supplement than the target, dig in and ask some questions. Do I have enough forages? Is the forage quality high enough? Do I have an accurate pulse on my cows’ nutrition requirements? Free-choice products help give you a barometer for your cattle nutrition program overall.
Bigger cows can mean bigger costs, but also bigger profit potential. Finding the right cow size for your operation and managing cows to help maximize efficiency may lead to greater profit potential.
Does your cattle nutrition program stack up? Find out with a Proof Pays trial.
Why has this occurred? Producers get paid for pounds, so “growth-bulls” are selected and the biggest heifers are retained. This has achieved positive outcomes as producers aim to maximize profit by increasing pounds of production and selling heavier calves each year. While this breeding and management strategy has shown its merits, on the output side of the equation, larger cows aren’t always as profitable as you might think.
Larger cow size can come with a larger price tag when you factor in higher inputs and reduced efficiency in pounds weaned. To maximize profit potential, finding the middle ground between the cost of raising larger calves and their value at sale time can be important.
Here are three tips to help you find the optimal cow size for your operation and manage it to improve efficiency:
1. Consider both inputs and outputs
It’s important to account for all profitability aspects when evaluating the right cow size for your operation.On the input side, larger cows eat more than smaller cows, resulting in higher costs for feed and forage. The good news is that cows get slightly more efficient per pound as they grow. A 1,500-pound cow is 50% larger in weight, but her energy requirements are only approximately 36% greater than those of a 1,000-pound cow.2 However, the accuracy of this, in practicality, is debatable because of the “boss-cow” effect. Those bigger cows are the dominant cows, and they always will be first on the pecking order for feed resources. In other words, they take more than they need and that “extra” is taken away from the smaller cows.
On the output side, you’re selling bigger calves and getting paid for their increased weight. However, it might cost more to raise those calves. With larger calves, you must respond to their nutritional needs, ensuring they can keep up and continue gaining weight.
Another consideration is that while cow size has been increasing, the percentage of weaning weight for calves hasn’t equally adjusted its ratio to make up for the larger size. Data from North Dakota State University shows that a 1,000-pound cow weans 48.5% of her body weight compared to 43.6% for a 1,400-pound cow.3 Essentially, calves born from larger cows aren’t as efficient as calves born from smaller cows.
Getting a complete picture of inputs and outputs can help you find the sweet spot when it comes to cow size for your operation to maximize profits.
2. Maximize forage resources
While cows have become larger, stocking rates have not kept up with genetic gain in cow size. Many producers are running the same number of cows on the same amount of acres as they always have.Overstocking can be problematic because cows may not get the nutrients they need from forage. Traditional stocking rates are based on a 1,000-pound mature cow size, yet many cows surpass that threshold today.
Consider this: A 1,500-pound cow is 1.5 times larger than a 1,000-pound cow. This means the larger cow needs about 1.5 times more nutrients than the smaller cow. To meet her forage needs, you would need to increase your stocking rates by 1.5 times.
Adjusting stocking rates can ensure cows aren’t short-changed on nutrients and that pasture resources are used more efficiently. Since most producers can’t easily weigh their cows, it can be challenging to know how much to increase the stocking rates for your specific operation.
Consider investing in a digital or portable scale; this year is a great time to reinvest in your facilities with the added profits from the bullish cattle market. If an on-farm scale isn’t in the cards, consider weighing your herd on the trailer at a local cooperative when hauling your cows to pasture or evaluating cull cow weight using the weights listed on the sale bill.
3. Avoid nutrition gaps
While increasing stocking rates can help support nutritional needs, we can’t expect cows to get by on forages alone. Across the industry, particularly on the cow side, producers run the risk of not optimizing their profit potential by not fully meeting the nutritional needs of larger-sized cattle.Bigger cows have more significant nutritional requirements. Meeting their increased nutritional needs can have cascading effects that could lead to improved profitability. Cows managed for optimal body condition scores at calving have been shown to rebreed with 88% or greater conception rates.4 And, by providing adequate nutrition to cows during each stage of gestation, you can better support the calf’s birth and weaning weight, immune function, finishing growth and value to the herd if the calf is kept back. A cattle nutrition program that meets your herd’s requirements helps ensure your genetic investment can be fully maximized, regardless of your average cow size.
Free-choice tub, block or liquid supplements can help you more efficiently meet any nutrient gaps cows might face. Monitoring intakes can also help you manage forages and stocking rates. If cows are eating more of the supplement than the target, dig in and ask some questions. Do I have enough forages? Is the forage quality high enough? Do I have an accurate pulse on my cows’ nutrition requirements? Free-choice products help give you a barometer for your cattle nutrition program overall.
Bigger cows can mean bigger costs, but also bigger profit potential. Finding the right cow size for your operation and managing cows to help maximize efficiency may lead to greater profit potential.
Does your cattle nutrition program stack up? Find out with a Proof Pays trial.
1 National Agricultural Statistics Service. United States Department of Agriculture. 2019.
2 NASEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine). 1984. Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle. 6th ed. The National Academies Press.
3 Dhuyvetter, J. 2009. Focusing on cows in a high cost world. North Dakota State University. Accessed Aug. 21, 2024.
4 Rasby, R.J, Stalker, A, and Funston, RN. Body condition scoring beef cows: A tool for managing the nutrition program for beef herds. Accessed Aug. 21, 2024.
