Get an Eyeful of Your Cattle
By Ellen H. Brisendine
“The eye of the master fattens the calf,” says Dr. Wade Nichols with Merck Animal Health, paraphrasing an Italian proverb.
Getting a good look at your cattle, without them knowing it, can be the first step in a health management program at the ranch. “The rancher who is looking at his or her cattle every day knows what they should look like and their state of health,” Nichols says.
But if you do not get to see your cattle every day, or you are worried that changing seasons or lack of rain are causing some health issues, we will review the basics of a healthy cow and healthy bull — based on the view from your pickup truck.
Healthy beef animals will have a “good shiny hair coat and be bright-eyed and alert to their surroundings, even when nobody is around. Because the cow is a prey animal, she will act like she is fine to hide illness if something is around that she considers a predator,” he says. A little stealthy observation on your part will help you gauge your herd’s level of activity and alertness.
In general terms, the body condition score (BCS) of a healthy beef cow is between 5 and 7. Thinner than a BCS 5 means the cow is becoming too thin. Fatter than a BCS 7 means the cow is getting too fat, which can lead to other health problems. “If you can feel her ribs through a layer of fat over her back and if she has a little bit of fat over the tailhead, that’s okay,” Nichols says. “If there’s quite a bit of fat over the tailhead, the spinal processes, and it’s hard to feel the ribs, that’s too fat.”
If your cattle are supposed to be black but are developing a reddish tint to the hair coat, there may be a nutritional deficiency. “Talk to your nutritionist to make sure the cattle are on a good vitamin and mineral program,” Nichols says. Find a nutritionist through your feed company or university. “Both of those sources can point ranchers to a consulting nutritionist. I highly recommend that ranchers have a consulting nutritionist come out once or twice a year to evaluate the health of the herd and make sure the cattle are getting the right feedstuffs,” he says. It’s also a good idea to test hay for nutrition. “This will help the nutritionist to better balance what those cows need,” Nichols explains.
When the cows are gathered to be worked, start making culling decisions. Cull the cows that did not have a calf this year. Examine the health of her udder, feet and legs and check her teeth.
“If they are a smooth-mouthed cow and are out on rangeland, they will have a more difficult time maintaining body condition,” he says.
If your stealthy observations indicate that the cattle are losing weight, even with plenty to eat, consider checking for internal parasites. “A high level of parasitism can cause cattle to lose weight,” he says.
Call the vet sooner rather than later to check and treat for parasites. “By the time you notice that the cows are losing weight, you’re behind and it is hard to catch up on weight gain,” depending on where the cow is in her production cycle.
Nichols offers this management suggestion for cows in the third trimester. “If you can during the third trimester, separate the cows into groups with similar body condition scores. If you have some cows that are thin, some that are just right and some that are too fat, then if you have space on the ranch to split those into three groups and feed them differently, your feed costs will actually be about the same. You would be giving the thin cows the better feed and more feed to meet their needs and taking some feed away from the fatter cows. You can better improve the productivity of the herd with about the same amount of money,” he says.
Overly fat cows can present calving difficulties and can develop more problems with the feet and legs later in their productive life. “She won’t travel as well trying to scrounge for that forage and getting back to water,” he says. Heifers that are overly fat have been shown to not milk as well as properly conditioned heifers during their productive lives.
Bulls will work themselves thin
The descriptors of a healthy cow apply to a healthy bull; however, Nichols says, “be prepared to see that bull’s weight fluctuate during the breeding season. There are a lot of stages and changes that a bull goes through during a breeding season. He goes in with some body condition and some muscle and comes out looking pretty haggard.
“Bulls are going to lose a couple hundred pounds during breeding season, so it’s critical to have them in good shape before turning them in with the cows,” he says. A pre-breeding season BCS of 5.5 to 6.5 is a good starting point. “Then after the breeding season, you can feed him back up to a healthy weight,” he says.
“Bulls that have been recently purchased may have been on a conditioning diet. Take at least 60 days to transition those bulls to a forage-based diet before expecting them to do well during a breeding season.”
Also, the same as with the cows, the bull needs to have good feet and legs because they will travel a lot during breeding season, “which is why the bulls lose so much weight during breeding season,” Nichols explains.
Schedule a visit from the veterinarian to have a breeding soundness exam done on your bull before the breeding season. Check the sperm quality and volume. The vet will make sure the bull is structurally sound. If there is a problem, work with the vet to see if the bull can be treated and healed in time for breeding season.
“While you have the vet out there checking the bulls, it wouldn’t hurt to have him or her drive through the cows to look at them. And I would have a nutritionist check them over, too. Look at what they are eating, their condition, and what might need to be done to improve their body condition score, if necessary,” he says.
“We can feed some supplement to our cattle every three or five days, but I like to get out to look at them every day to check their health,” Nichols says. He adds that checking cattle is not something he thinks he must do but is one of those pleasant privileges of ranching that he gets to do — every day.
Get an Eyeful of Your Cattle is excerpted from the October 2018 issue of The Cattleman magazine.