“Prudent use of feed resources to maintain body condition on the cows to maximize efficiency reduces your feeding costs,” said provincial forage specialist Barry Yaremcio.

The amount of fat a cow is carrying will influence how it will respond to the cold. And while you want to make sure the animals don’t get stressed by the frigid temperatures, “how much extra money are you spending to put fat on those animals when you don’t have to?”

The Beef Cattle Research Council compared cows that had body condition scores of 3 at calving time with cows that were 200 pounds lighter, with body condition scores of 2.

It found cows with the lower body condition score of 2 had lower pregnancy rates, longer calving intervals, and longer postpartum periods. More importantly, their calves had lower weaning weights and lower average daily gains.

• Read more: Make the most of cheap feed grain this winter

“If you change it to a body condition score of 3 — if you do a better job of feeding those cows throughout the winter — pregnancy rates went up from 61 per cent to 86 per cent. That’s 25 extra calves for having the same number of animals at home,” said Yaremcio.

“Calf weaning weight went from 460 pounds to 515 pounds, and if we look at the sale price, your value of those weaned calves went up to $81,000 (from $51,000).

“If you brought home an extra paycheque of $30,000 and gave it to your partner, would they stick around or would they go out and buy a car on you?” he quipped.

A thin cow that’s 200 pounds lighter than she should be heading into winter is also going to need more feed to get in good condition for calving, he added.

“In order for that cow to maintain her body weight, it’s going to take her roughly 1,400 pounds more hay just to maintain body weight — not to gain, just to maintain body condition,” said Yaremcio. “If you want to bring that cow back up to condition by calving time, and you have roughly 150 days to do that, how does that impact your feeding program?”

For a cow in good condition, producers can get away with feeding 22 pounds of hay and 10 pounds of straw a day, at a feeding cost of $1.13 a day, he said. Thin cows, on the other hand, need to be on an all-hay diet of around 31 pounds a day, and in order for them to gain weight, they also need an additional five pounds of barley a day.

“So your daily feeding costs went up from $1.13 to $1.55. That’s 40 cents a day,” said Yaremcio.

“Your difference in feeding costs from the time you put them on the extra feed for 100 poor-condition cows is another $6,300, or $63 a head in feeding costs.

“Paying attention to how you feed these animals can make a big difference in your bottom line.”

The post Save feed costs by improving body condition scores, says expert appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“As soon as your compost heats up to 40 C, it doesn’t smell like a carcass anymore… it’s not,” said Kim Stanford, a beef research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

“Good mortality composting takes some time and effort, but really, it’s something that you can adapt to most farms.”

When a compost pile is working properly, a dead cow of average feedlot weight can be broken down in about nine months, she said during a recent Beef Cattle Research Centre webinar.

The site should be accessible year round and close to compost amendments, such as straw, manure and sawdust. It shouldn’t be close to wells or livestock pens, and be in a well-drained area with a catchment for run-off.

“The goal of composting is to maintain happy aerobic bacteria and fungi — those are the organisms that do the hard work of breaking down the carcasses,” said Stanford. “The secret to composting is to set up your piles well and if you do that properly, there are no worries and it just composts by itself.”

The compost pile should be six feet tall and constructed in layers over dead cattle laid on their sides (but not touching).

“Just use whatever you’ve got on hand,” said Stanford. “Composting is a really forgiving process and you can use things that are waste products that are on your farm,” she said.

Old straw, manure, sawdust, wood chips, and even spoiled silage can be used, but the amendments can’t be too wet. The base layer should be as dry as possible.

For a compost to be active and work properly, it has to contain oxygen.

When building the compost, windrows need to be built so water runs off and doesn’t pool on top of them. If the windrows are too small, they can dry out or get too wet when it rains. Compost needs to be turned — Stanford and her research team did that three times in a nine-month period. After nine months, the compost should look like dirt and have no smell. It the pile reached 55 C, pathogens are killed.

The piles can be started in winter as long as they are dry and warm manure is used to start the composting process.

There are other options for dealing with deadstock but all have drawbacks. Boneyards (or natural exposure) can lead to problems with disease, odour, flies, water contamination, and predation.

On-farm burial is also permitted, but the hole must be four feet deep and located 500 feet from a well and 350 from a barn or dwelling. Burial can also affect the water table, create odour, and get expensive as new sites are required.

Burning is illegal and incinerators able to handle cattle are rare and not legal in all areas. A biodigester is an option, but there are operational challenges and they are expensive.

The post Composting fastest and cheapest way to deal with deadstock appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

That was the message from veterinarian Cody Creelman during a recent Beef Cattle Research Centre webinar.

Preconditioning includes anything a producer does to a weaned calf that reduces shrink and chance of illness or death when it arrives at the feedlot, said Creelman of Veterinary Agri-Health Services in Airdrie. It can range from a single blackleg shot to a comprehensive herd health program that includes vaccination, top-quality nutrition, and a host of best management practices.

“If I was a producer, I would make sure that I knew my input costs as best as I possibly could,” said Creelman. “I could figure out which preconditioning system was going to fit my individual system of raising cattle. I would consult with veterinarians, nutritionists and marketing consultants and find a system that works for me. Feedlots do want these types of cattle.”

When calves between 500 to 700 pounds hit the feedlot, they generally receive antibiotics, vaccines to protect against respiratory and bacterial pathogens, and treatments for parasites.

The vaccines and antibiotics typically cost $30 per head (plus $12 in labour), but because feedlot operators don’t know the history of the cattle, they want to ensure they remain healthy.

• More on the Alberta Farmer: Should you precondition your cattle?

Calves have a five per cent chance of catching bovine respiratory disease (BRD) — also known as shipping fever — which will cut their daily gain by nearly a pound per day compared to other calves. But cow-calf producers can reduce the incidence of the disease and mortality at the feedlot by giving a respiratory pathogen vaccine any time between branding and three weeks before weaning. Some pharmaceutical companies guarantee “zero per cent BRD pulls” when their vaccine is used, and will compensate feedlots if a cow becomes sick and has to be pulled from its pen for treatment, said Creelman. The net effect is reduced antibiotic use and mortality, and increased feed efficiency and beef quality, he said.

“There’s also an increase in animal welfare and consumer perception of the industry,” he said. “All of this data is out there showing what preconditioned calves can do when they hit the feedlot.”

Reducing the risk of antibiotic strains of the disease is another big reason for preconditioning, he said.

“I do not look forward to the day when antibiotics do not work as well as they did. So we have to do more than we’re doing in our current system,” said Creelman.

And there’s no reason not to precondition calves, he said.

“You’re running those calves through for branding anyway, so why not give them all the vaccines they need to be preconditioned? Then when they get vaccinated at the feedlot, that acts as a boost, not a primary vaccine.”

Another part of preconditioning is to ensure calves are acquainted with feed bunks and water troughs.

“They can’t just go to the feedlot and wander around lost until they just one day bump into the feed bunk,” he said.

As well, producers should be ensuring their feed is high quality and, if need be, consulting with a nutritionist to learn more about the minerals.

“You can get up to three pounds of gain a day at home. It may take a bit of practice to get that, but if you can achieve that, that’s a lot of salable pounds at 30, 45 or 60 days that will put some extra cash in your jeans,” said Creelman.

He also recommended low-stress weaning and direct marketing to the feedlot.

“Decreasing the bug soup and kindergarten effect of going through the auction mart system can be a viable option when it comes to management as well,” he said.

Still, producers aren’t guaranteed a premium for the extra work involved in preconditioning. But if they don’t, cow-calf producers are just passing risk on to the feedlot, said Creelman.

“Even though we’re in the same industry, I feel like there’s a lot of us versus them out there,” he said. “There’s a lot of mistrust. For the good of the animal, we need to pull back together and work together to improve consumer perception.”

And while preconditioning information may not always be passed along to the buyer right now, that may soon change. Traceability programs, certified preconditioning, and electronic video auctions can all help ensure that information about preconditioning stays with the animal throughout the value chain, he said.

Producers can also sell directly to the feedlot, and build up a good relationship with the feedlot owner.

“Even with tools like BIXS, you can extract your carcass data out and then extract the personalized data to leverage buyers in subsequent years,” he said.

The post Everyone will benefit if calves are preconditioned, says vet appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

In fact, a western Canadian cow-calf survey found only nine per cent of producers preconditioned in 2013.

And those who do typically have a clear financial incentive, said Canfax Research Services manager Brenna Grant.

“Frequently, producers consider preconditioning when they have extra feed, or when feed prices are low and they’re looking to add value to their product by putting weight on calves,” Grant said during a Beef Cattle Research Centre webinar on preconditioning.

“They may consider preconditioning when prices are low and they want to sell their cattle to a different market. (Or) they’re wanting to retain their calves until prices recover.”

But today’s high cattle prices offer an opportunity for producers to do the right thing — and get paid for it.

“The cost of death at the feedlot is at one of the highest levels that we’ve ever seen,” said Grant. “There is a potential of premiums becoming available because it’s more profitable for our feedlot to pay to have a calf that’s going to stay alive versus something that may be immune compromised in those first 45 days.”

Knowing the cost of production is critical. Prices generally soften in November and December as feedlots fill their pens. In 2014, prices continued to increase during the fall run, which paid off for producers who were able to retain ownership of their animals.

“Not only were they able to get additional pounds, they were able to sell them at a higher price. 2014 was an ideal year for preconditioning,” she said.

However, live cattle futures are now under pressure, and the seasonal price decline from October to December — usually about eight per cent — could be larger this year.

Historically, a producer needed to have less than 80 cents per pound for cost of gain to make preconditioning worthwhile.

“When you have higher prices, every pound added is actually worth more,” said Grant. “You can invest more in adding those pounds than you would have historically.”

To determine if preconditioning is worthwhile, producers need to include their yardage, labour, and all costs, not just feed costs. An online tool to calculate the cost of production can be found at the Beef Cattle Research Council website.

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