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Last Updated on Monday, 04 January 2010 08:40

Written by Christy Hemken

Casper – “Heifer development isn’t just from weaning to breeding, but also what goes on following breeding,” said George Perry of South Dakota State University at the early December Range Beef Cow Symposium XXI in Casper.
    In his presentation, which focused on post-A.I. nutrition, Perry focused on how to manage heifers after A.I. and how that management affects reproductive performance, not only for that calf but for the rest of the heifers’ reproductive lives.
    “The goals of any heifer development program are getting heifers bred early, minimizing calving difficulty, weaning an acceptable calf and longevity, which is the biggest one,” said Perry. “The longer we can keep animals in the herd, the more we increase economic efficiency. If we develop them only to lose them after one or two years we’re hurting our economics.”
    Perry said heifers need to calve by 24 months of age to reach maximum lifetime productivity. If not, or if they lose a pregnancy, they’ll breed late and lack the opportunity to get bred the next year and fall out of the herd more quickly.
    In a study tracking five herds of heifers the females were followed through their lifetime to calculate their lifetime average weaning weight. “The study found if heifers calve early with their first calf they’ll follow that up the rest of their life with calves born early in the season,” said Perry.
    Another study looked at 3,700 claves. “When calves are born after the first day of calving, for every day later than the first day you give up 2.4 pounds per day of weaning weight,” said Perry.
    Perry shifted his focus to maintaining a pregnancy. “We know from research that if a cow or heifer ovulates and we put semen in the correct place, fertilization will occur 90 percent of the time. Inherent loss occurs no matter what the situation, but what goes on with management that can influence this?”
    According to Perry, as little as a 15 percent decrease in nutrition has an effect on embryo quality. His theory is that heifers taken from a feedlot development situation, bred and then turned out to pasture suffer a dramatic effect on their weight in that first short period of time because they have to learn how and which plants to graze.
    In one of his studies half of a group of heifers were developed on grass and the other half in a feedlot.
    “Those developed on the range were gaining two pounds a day on spring forage, while those that were not lost over three pounds a day in the first week, and during the next three weeks there was still a significant difference,” said Perry.
    He said the only other data he found that showed the same dramatic weight loss in such a short period of time was a study with a group of heifers fed 120 percent of maintenance that were dropped to 40 percent maintenance. “They lost 56 pounds over two weeks,” said Perry, reminding of the mere 15 percent decrease in nutrition that can affect an embryo.
    While heifers developed in the feedlot cycle at a rate of 94 percent while those developed on range cycle at 84 percent, Perry said pregnancy success is just the opposite at 44 percent compared to 56 percent.
    “Think about what you’re doing to that embryo if you starve an animal back when you turn them out on grass,” said Perry.
    In a study that took the scenario one step farther, one group of heifers was moved to pasture, while a second group was moved to pasture and supplemented. Both groups were moderate body condition.
    “The herd that went to pasture alone lost almost a pound a day over the first few days, while the supplemented group gained a pound a day until the first pregnancy diagnosis,” said Perry. By the final preg check there was no difference in weights.
    “These heifers go through period where they crash, then come back to normal and if you don’t watch them after you breed them you never see this,” said Perry, noting most producers breed heifers and kick them out to pasture for summer without looking them over closely again until fall.
    In another study of feedlot-developed heifers, half of a group was moved to pasture 30 days before synchronization. They were brought back in, both groups weighed and A.I.’d and turned out to pasture.
    “From A.I. to preg check – about 35 days – the group turned out to pasture beforehand gained 17 pounds while the strictly feedlot group gained .6 pounds,” said Perry.
    “When we think about heifer development and management, it’s not only from weaning to breeding, but also after we breed those animals,” said Perry.
    Comparing feedlot to range development, Perry said, “Is one way better than another? Probably not, but consistency in management before and after A.I. is what matter. The method by which they’re developed and how they’re treated can have a tremendous effect on lifetime production. What are you doing after A.I. to affect reproduction that you never even know about until three or four months later when you get to preg checking?”
    “Any sudden change will affect pregnancy success, and you want to keep your animals as consistent as possible,” he said.
    Christy Hemken is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Thursday, 23 April 2009 06:27

Written by Christy Hemken

Casper – At the Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming’s (ICOW) annual meeting in early November, Paragon Foundation Executive Vice President G.B. Oliver took a moment to address the group regarding private property rights.
    Having worked in the banking industry for nearly 28 years, Oliver says the current economic meltdown is the result of an agenda vying for the use of private property as collateral.
    Oliver said the Paragon Foundation has been before the Supreme Court twice, and both times, he said, the findings show the court is honoring the Constitution by the narrowest margin. As an example he mentioned a case in which the Foundation participated that tried to limit the ability of citizens to carry firearms in Washington, D.C. “The justices interpreted the Constitution to not mean the people, but the military,” said Oliver.
    “Now they’re taking your property,” he said. “If you were to sit in my office you’d begin to understand how massive this assault is by the state and federal government to take your property. They’re coming to take your property and they’ve got every weapon in the world to do so. They don’t want you raising cattle on or using your property.”
    Oliver said the federal government intends to take the private property and use it to collateralize debt to the World Bank. “We have $16.5 trillion in debt with the Word Bank that nobody knows anything about, because we didn’t borrow that money, but we guaranteed loans with Columbia, Honduras, Mexico and other third world countries,” he said. “We are collateralizing that debt with the fruits of your labor and your property.”
    “Make sure you understand one thing very clearly, because we didn’t understand it,” said Oliver, citing money spent in Federal District Court. “Education is a very expensive prospect. We’ve learned that property is not a physical thing. They can come in and say they found an endangered jumping rat that’s endangered under federal law, and that you can’t run cattle in there anymore or let the cattle water because you’ve got to protect it. They say they’re not taking the property, because you’re still paying taxes on it, aren’t you?”
    Rather, Oliver said property is a person’s right to utilize a piece of real estate. “Don’t get confused when you read these decisions,” he cautioned. “Any time a ruling restricts your ability to use your property in any way, shape or form, that’s taking your property.”
    “They’re coming to take your property, and they have particular interest in eliminating people like you because you stand for everything they despise,” Oliver told the ICOW group. “You’re independent, self-sufficient, have a core belief and you understand the difference between right and wrong and you’re not greedy. They have three weapons they use: fear, greed and ignorance. Those are the three games they play. That’s the preemptive they used in the financial crisis.”
    “Before you think it’s hopeless, remember this – they still swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and it’s incumbent upon us to know exactly what’s in that document,” said Oliver, adding that the U.S. government is given eight specific powers in the Constitution, and all other powers are given to the states and the people respective. “That’s you and me,” he said.
    Oliver said that, according to the Constitution, the federal government and federal district courts have no jurisdiction over properties within a state or over the sovereign citizens of the state.
    “You and I have got to begin to understand the document that limits that authority and gives us all these rights,” said Oliver. “The county commissioners, along with the sheriffs, swear to uphold and protect Constitution of U.S. and the state of Wyoming and the property, safety and well-begin of its citizens. It’s just those guys take that oath. They really have the power.”
    “All of us have the power to turn this thing around,” said Oliver. “As long as the officials are required to uphold the Constitution they have a little bit of a problem.” He said those officers can be sued individually for not upholding their oaths and they can’t rely on the county attorney. “Those are the keys to turning this thing around,” he said.
    “The Paragon Foundation is about teaching people what their rights are and teaching them how to handle these situations,” said Oliver about his organization. The mission statement of the ParagonFoundation is to “provide for education, research and the exchange of ideas in an effort to promote and support Constitutional principles, individual freedoms, private property rights and the continuation of rural customs and culture - all with the intent of celebrating and continuing our Founding Fathers’ vision for America.”
    Christy Hemken is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Saturday, 25 February 2012 10:08

Written by Christy Martinez

In terms of efficiency, is there a way to “cut corners” without sacrificing quality to improve a cattle herd’s management?
    “There may be a better way than what you’re doing,” says UW Extension Livestock Specialist Scott Lake. “We throw around the term ‘efficiency,’ but it’s important to keep it in context, and to maintain a systems efficiency, and ‘efficiency’ does not always equal profitability, because it’s a two-sided equation. If you have a low-input cow, you may end up with a low-output calf.”
    “The biggest opportunity I see to increase feed utilization, or to decrease waste, is to feed to nutrient requirements,” says Lake. “Many times we see overfeeding and underfeeding, and the dramatic effects of both.”
    Lake says body condition scoring is one tool to manage a cowherd, but he says it doesn’t tell anything about how that cow is being fed today.
    “It’s a window into our past,” he says. “You can get an idea of the plane of nutrition she’s been on for the last couple months, and in the wintertime it’s tricky because you have to look through the hair. What you’re evaluating is the fat level on the animal, and her protein, to determine, over the long haul, if you’re gaining or losing. That affects how we feed animals.”
    The thin animals in a herd would have a body condition score of 3, while the fat animals usually average a 7.
    “The points to look at are the hip bones – does she look like a dairy cow, or a show-looking calf that’s really fat?” asks Lake. “Cows that are thinner, with a BCS of 3 or 4, see a dramatic affect on the postpartum interval.”
    Lake says that postpartum interval for individual cows affects the whole-system efficiency.
    “We want to have a calf every 365 days. Normal gestation length in an Angus cow is about 282 days, which gives us about 83 days for her to calve, begin lactating and get back into shape to be bred. If we have cows that are thin, they will barely start cycling by the time that 83 days is over,” he explains. “If you AI or invest in the best bulls, that doesn’t even matter if the cow isn’t cycling. Nutrition is extremely important.”
Feeding for heifers
    When managing young cows, Lake says the challenge is that they’re growing, lactating for the first time and experiencing new nutrient demands, and they still have to start cycling to get bred.
    “If we can have a heifer on an increased plane of nutrition, which is challenging because she’s lactating, and get her to gain weight, we can reduce the postpartum interval, but that’s the reason why we usually back our heifers up two or three weeks to give them some extra time,” he states.
Body condition should fluctuate
    Lakes says it’s wasteful to keep cows fat all the time.
    “There’s data from Nebraska that says that cows that fluctuate in condition increase their longevity and they’re better cows, but the trick is when they fluctuate,” he says. “They have different requirements through the year, and in the fall when we wean them, in the early trimester of gestation, their requirements aren’t that high and it’s ok if they get a little thin. The point is we need to have them where we want them by the time they calve again, and by the time we get to the third trimester.”
Uniform herds are more efficient
    Regarding overfeeding and underfeeding, Lake says thin cows don’t compete very well.
    “We have fat and thin cows in our herd, and we feed to an average, so the more uniform we can keep our herd, the better, and management groups would be the ideal scenario,” he says. “With management groups we can have a group that’s thin and needs to be fed separately – they need more feed, and they need to be able to get to the feed.”
Examine economics of
cutting inputs
    In answering a question as to whether an operation can get away without feeding protein for one year, Lake says the cows would survive, but he questions the economic impact, saying there would potentially be a three-year effect.
    “If, in 2009, when feed costs went through the roof, we had cut back on hay and protein and had thin calves, then in 2010 our calf vigor would have been poor, and the affect on colostrum quality and decreased milk product would lead to bad weaning weights, which would affect profitability. We’d also decrease our postpartum interval, so now we won’t have calves on a 365-day calendar, and we’ll have an overall decrease in conception rates,” he explains, continuing, “Now we’ve got a decreased calf crop in 2011, and if that had been a real-life scenario, we’re now in record calf prices with a poor calf crop – we’ve got light calves, and not as many as we should.”
    “There can be a dramatic economic impact from keeping our cows too thin, and not managing them the way we should,” he notes.
    Keeping that proper nutrition also affects culling decisions, says Lake.
    “We always try to manage cows so they calve in a short, tight window, and cull options are usually based on whether she’s bred or not. When you get into this scenario, you have to keep everything that’s open and you lose your culling power, you’re not making genetic advancement and you’re keeping the poor doers. Having those cows in good condition, having a shorter post partum interval and getting bred back on time affects you all the way down, beyond just calf weights this year,” he says.
Nutrition: numbers are key
    “We spend a lot of time flipping through bull catalogues, looking at RFI (residual feed intake), testing for it and chasing product quality and growth, but reproduction is five times more important than product quality and five times more important than growth,” states Lake. “More calves on the ground is more important than less calves that are really growthy. Numbers are key.”
    “Nutrition is the key. It’s said that reproductive performance is the number one indicator of the economic success of a cow/calf producer, and nutrition is the key to optimizing that reproductive success. Feeding the proper amount is extremely important, because the principle factor influencing reproduction is under-nutrition. When we have reproductive problems, 90 percent of the time it’s due to nutrition.”
    Christy Martinez is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Feed AI heifers well
    The average age of puberty in a heifer is 12 to 14 months, which is when they’re typically bred for the first time, and UW Extension Livestock Specialist Scott Lake says that if they’re not kept on proper nutrition and are too thin, that puberty can be delayed.
    “If we have heifers that are slow-growing and low-input, we’ll have a hard time getting them bred on time,” he says. “There are many philosophies on developing heifers, but if you spend the money to synch and AI heifers, you ought to feed them pretty well. If you will have natural service and low input, and you want to rough them through and put a bull on them, there’s nothing wrong with that. If you do low-input heifer development and they breed up and stay in the herd, those are really good cows.
    “The argument is that if you put the money into heifers to synch and AI, you want the highest chance of success, and if you don’t feed them well you’ll only get 50 percent to cycle, and only 50 percent of those will breed.”

Cows, heifers require different nutrition
    According to UW Extension Livestock Specialist Scott Lake, from calving to breeding there are dramatic fluctuations in the nutrient requirements of a cow.
    “If we don’t adjust how much we feed according to the stage of production, we’re feeding way more than we should, and it’s not efficient on the system basis,” says Lake.
    He suggests following a 7-9-11 rule for a cow’s nutrition through her reproductive cycle.
    In period one, or mid-gestation, Lake says the cow is in maintenance, and not lactating, and her requirements are pretty low.
    “If she’s a dry cow, her protein requirements are around six to seven percent. In mid- to late-gestation, her requirements are somewhere around eight or nine percent, and in lactation they’re around 11 percent,” he explains. “We need to fluctuate her feeds throughout the year.”
    In addition, Lake says a young cow needs even more attention.
    “We have to feed her through maintenance, lactation, regaining weight, cycling and getting bred, and that’s a huge nutrient demand and we need to be sure we feed to get her there so we can maintain the yearly calving interval,” he says. “For a heifer to gain a body condition requires almost twice as much energy as it does for a mature cow.”
    Lake says there is a 26 percent increase in the maintenance requirements of an Angus heifer compared to a mature Angus cow, and that jumps up to a 39 percent increase between the two in the Simmental breed.

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Last Updated on Saturday, 03 March 2012 10:25

Written by Saige Albert

Laramie – The opportunities for more focused initiatives and potential profitability in heifer management are gaining speed in the cattle industry, according to Colorado State University Extension Beef Specialist Jack Whittier.
    Whitter spoke to the UW Animal Science Department in Laramie on Feb. 24.
    “We know the beef industry is made up of many different demographics, but increasing focus on heifer management may be right,” said Whittier. “There has been success in developing and marketing replacement heifers and reducing the costs of the replacement business to make herd more productive and profitable.”
    After a meeting at JBS in Greeley, Colo. in late Fall 2011, Whittier noted that Tom Brink of Five Rivers Cattle Feeding listed 10 reasons to expose more heifers in the upcoming years, from which he developed six primary opportunities that are worthwhile when looking at heifer management.
Cattle prices
    “Cattle prices, whether it be fed cattle or calves, are at record highs,” said Whittier. “With that, bred cow prices have also begun to increase.”
    He explained that CattleFax data predicts bred cow prices for 2012 will increase 25 percent above 2011 prices, indicating a huge increase in value.
    “One of the kickers is, not only have bred cow prices been increasing, but salvage cow prices have been extremely high,” he continued. “I’m guessing that Wyoming and Colorado ranchers have seen a great time to cash in some chips on cows that may not be as functional.”
    Whittier cautioned, however, that it will be a balancing act to not turn things over too quickly.
    “It will be a push-pull mechanism, but I think we all agree that the cow herd will expand,” he added. “The purchasing power of exporters allows them to come in and purchase our quality product.”
Rewarding quality
    Whittier recognized that marketing strategies for cattle have also helped to increase profits.
    “We’ve started marketing cattle on a value-based system, and that is creating change,” explained Whittier. “When quality is rewarded, we tend to make changes in that direction.”
    He noted that cattle marketed on alternative methods, such as forward contracts or specialty programs, have increased substantially in the last 15 years. Today, nearly 70 percent of cattle are marketed on a value-based system, whereas program cattle 15 years ago accounted for only 30 percent of total cattle sold.
    “We put a system together to based on quality,” he added, “and the cattle have begun to change.”
EPDs and genomic data
    “As we move forward in our evaluation of cattle, the EPDs actually do predict the value of animals and his or her offspring,” said Whittier.
    He noted that the inclusion of EPDs for reproductive value and fertility have made large strides.
    “One of the criteria that has been easy to manage and measure is the impact of scrotal circumference on overall fertility,” said Whittier. “In the late ‘80s, when scrotal circumference began to be selected for, we were cognizant that it had value and would change fertility.”
    He also added that heifer pregnancy rates have increased as a result, saying, “My opinion is that, as these tools have been developed and reined in, we have been able to make changes in the industry that have impact.”
    Genomics also provides opportunities, especially when combined with traditional systems.
    “By using the genomic information with our traditional systems, I predict that there are even greater strides to come,” said Whittier, noting that genomics systems are fairly simple to utilize and provide benefits.
    He added that progeny testing will always be important, but utilizing genomics can help producers cut costs.
    “Increasing the reliability of information early in the game to make decisions and decrease costs is important,” he explained. “The cost to prove a bull without genomic tools is much greater.”
    However useful, the system isn’t perfect yet, and Whittier pointed out that breed specificity of genomic patterns is a downfall. He remarked that improvement can be expected.
Heifer management
    Heifer management systems are being re-examined with a different perspective, according to Whittier.    
    Whittier marked feed cost increases as a motivator in improving management strategies, and said that heifer development programs have adapted from feedlot systems.
    “Heifers may never come into the feedlot in the development phase,” said Whittier, who added that research shows heifer development systems can be effective at lower target weights.
    “In one study, they developed heifers to 55 percent rather than 65 percent, and there was no difference in overall fertility,” he explained. “That’s largely because we’ve changed cattle, and, as a result, puberty is not as big a factor as in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.”
Hybrid vigor
    “Heterosis is a real thing, and it concerns me that the industry has forgotten and put this aside in some ways,” commented Whittier. “The real benefit has been seen in combining those crossbred cattle up to 23 to 25 percent.”
    He cited studies that noted a 25 percent increase in efficiency and increased longevity and probably of survival can be achieved in crossbreeding cattle.
    However, Whittier also cautioned that implementing heterosis isn’t simple and may have unexpected results because of the complexity of genetics.
    “I believe in heterosis, in particular in the fertility traits,” remarked Whittier. “It shouldn’t be overlooked.”
Synchronization tools
    While Whittier noted that timed AI or synchronization programs aren’t “quite ripe,” meaning they aren’t fully developed, they are improving.
    “They are moving in that direction of a system that allows the predicting of ovulation and selecting gender, depending on the objectives of the herd,” he explained.
    One study identified by Whittier saw 46 percent of cows that were not cycling, according to progesterone assays, were successfully bred after implementing a synchronization program.
    “Exposure to progesterone may have some merit as we move forward in heifer management,” he said.
    Whittier also cited gender selection with sexed semen, saying it provides opportunities to achieve herd goals as well. Though studies were primarily done to select for steers, based on their advantage in the markets, Whittier predicted that they could be applied to heifer selection.
    “The study shows that conception rates of sorted semen are not what conventional semen is,” said Whittier, but an increase in the desired sex of calves may offset that decrease in fertilization.
    “I don’t know where these things will go,” commented Whittier, “but we’ve got some opportunities educationally with heifer management and development.”
    Saige Albert is editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Whittier gives cattle outlook
    “The entire cattle beef focus right now is pretty darn good,” said CSU Extension Beef Specialist Jack Whittier in a presentation on Feb. 24.
    Whittier addressed the UW Animal Science Department in a seminar on heifer development, but he noted that opportunities exist across the board for cattle producers.
    “It is just amazing to me what U.S. beef production and U.S. farmers in general are able to do,” commented Whittier. “Even though cow numbers are down, the output of beef has not changed that dramatically. Certainly there is a decline, but we see that as opportunity.”
    However, he didn’t neglect the challenges that face the industry.
    “There are some challenges, and volatility is apparent,” said Whittier. “Though prices are high, margins are slim because the cost of inputs right now.”