Navigating Replacement Females
Dr. Joe Paschal presented this talk at the 2017 Cattle Raisers Convention. Mark your calendars for the 2018 event, March 23 to 25, Fort Worth, to learn about your ranching business and to network with your peers.
By Caitlin Richards
Navigating the waters of replacements can be tough. The options seem to be as vast as an open sea. Once a rancher steps back to really evaluate the options, however, he or she can be confident in his or her decision.
Think about replacement females as an investment necessary for herd growth and overall health.
During the 2017 Cattle Raisers Convention in San Antonio, Dr. Joe Paschal, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension livestock specialist, shared factors from the paper “Evaluating Female Replacement Alternatives” to serve as a guide for making replacement female decisions.
“Depending on how big your herd is, [replacement females] have the potential to have a significant impact on your herd for a very long time,” Paschal said. “That’s why it is important to go through some of these considerations.”
The 2 primary options for replacement females are to either retain heifers from the herd or purchase females from outside of the herd. Outside-the-herd purchases offer a vast sea of options.
Paschal shared 15 replacement female options. We have illustrated these in the charts in this article with general illustrations to help break down a lot of information into useable chunks.
We’ve taken the 11 genetic and economic management factors that Paschal presented in his talk to help ranchers evaluate each option — retain heifers or purchase a type of female — to help with decision-making.
“Producers should consider how each one of these options fits into their operations,” Paschal said. “The whole idea [with the presentation] was to help producers think about what their costs are to come to a decision.”
The 11 factors are:
- Availability of quantity and quality
- Initial investment expense
- Development phase
- Rebreeding potential
- Flexibility in marketing of extras or culls
- Predictability of genetic potential
- Potential longevity
- Dystocia or death loss
- Weaning weight of first calf
- Nutritional requirements
- Cull rate
Initial investment expense and development phase are 2 factors a producer can look at to gain some bearings in their replacement decision. The initial investment expense incorporates the amount of dollars associated with the purchase, travel, commission and delivery expenses.
The development phase is the time it takes for the female to be considered bred. In most cases, the shorter the development phase the higher the initial investment cost is for producers.
Paschal identified the greatest initial investment as pairs and younger 3-in-1s, a moderate initial investment as bred females, and the lowest initial investment as young open heifers and old open cows.
“While the 3-in-1s may cost more up front, [as a producer] I’m not going to have to wait as long to have a calf on the ground,” Paschal said. “Of course, the open ones are going to be the cheapest, but you have to develop them. You have to get them ready to calve and that’s 18 months down the road.”
Paschal suggested that producers should also think about the yearly cow cost when making a replacement purchase decision. He explained that the cow cost incurs every year, whether the female is in a development phase or breeding phase.
“The initial price of that female’s initial purchase price occurs only once, but the cow cost of running that cow every year is an annual occurrence,” Paschal said. “If you can reduce your cost to run your cow and still have the same level of production, I think that will have a lot more impact on your return than a couple of a hundred dollars variance in the initial value of the cow.”
The cost of nutritional requirements should be part of the cow cost. Producers rarely consider it when budgeting for replacement females. The highest nutritional requirements are in the younger purchases, like heifers through third-calf cows. Most other purchases will have low nutritional requirements unless they are in poor condition.
Consequently, the consideration lies between cost and reproductive risk with these acknowledged factors. However, all 11 factors can further guide the replacement decision. Ultimately, determining the right choice lies strictly within the each producer’s given situation.
“That’s why we encourage producers to run the numbers for each one of the options every year,” Paschal said. “This year one option may be better than another. Next year, another option may actually be better.”
An overall goal for producers to keep in mind, Paschal stressed, is to have a positive return (or net present value) after about five calves. Producers should start considering their options either prior to or during calving season.
“If you’re going to have some old cows and you know it will be their last year, then it’s time to think about replacements,” Paschal said. “If you have rebreeding coming up, you need to do it well before breeding.”
You will need accurate herd management and financial records for your herd to effectively use the 11 factors to analyze the replacement options. Stay on top of these records before making a replacement female decision.
“There are a lot of records other than what it costs you to run those cows,” Paschal said. “I think these costs are very important to get a handle on for your program.”
Some of the records Paschal suggested to start maintaining include calving interval and weaning weight. Calving interval refers to whether or not the cow had a calf within a 12-month period.
“It is a good record that producers can keep and it is as simple as saying she calved in January,” Paschal said. “It would be great to have a birth date, but generally within 3 to 4 days is good.”
Determining weaning weight helps producers understand where the genetics of their herd stand, which plays into the retaining or purchasing decision. For example, if a rancher has an ideal weaning weight within their herd they may be more likely to consider retaining heifers from within their herd. On the other hand, if weaning weight is not ideal, the rancher may decide to purchase replacements to enhance the weaning weights.
“A lot of people don’t want to keep records,” Paschal said, “so it’s hard for them to get their heads around some of this stuff, but it is helpful when making a decision about replacement females.”
When considering replacements, it basically comes down to how much a producer can afford to spend. It is important to consider the replacement options to avoid overspending and making a bad investment.
“If you overspend, your return on investment will essentially be negative,” Paschal said. “So, it just means it was a bad investment. Say you bought a boat and you don’t live anywhere near the water. It just sits in your barn. That is sort of what happens [with overspending on replacement purchases].”
The right replacement females can have long-term impacts on the ranch.
Paschal compared it to purchasing a good bull or a bad bull, except the number of replacements purchased multiplies the decision’s effect.
“Generally, you’re not just buying one replacement female,” Paschal said.
“You’re buying a group of 15, 20 or 100 females. If you do a good job selecting females, they will be around for awhile.” ❚
“Navigating Replacement Heifers” is excerpted from the August 2017 issue of The Cattleman magazine.