A large survey in Western Canada has discovered in-teresting information about cow-calf operations and provides a benchmark upon which to measure future progress.
The Western Beef Development Centre conducted the Western Canadian Cow-Calf Survey from October 2014 to February 2015.
The average age of the producers who responded was 50 years with an average of 28 years raising cattle.
An average of two to three family members were involved in the farm, which indicated there is a good base in the next generation wanting to stay on the farm.
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It is no surprise the average size cow herd is 170 to 200 head with 19 percent of the herds larger than 300 head. A lot of herds had around 100 cows when I started practising 30 years ago.
Today’s bigger cows herds generate economies of scale and justify better handling systems that can make the job easier.
The survey found that the average breeding time was 90 days. For better productivity, we need to try to return to the norm before BSE, when bulls were often pulled after three cycles (63 days), and open cows at pregnancy checking were sold.
Most producers in the survey tried to calve their heifers one cycle before the cows so that they can be better monitored and have more time to recover before the next breeding season.
Calving season has been pushed back as herds got larger, but a little more than one-third of those surveyed calve in January or February. These early calvers are likely purebred herds and commercial herds that will accept calving in the cold to avoid the worst months for calf scours.
Calf death loss in the survey was seven percent. Scours and pneumonia accounted for 30 percent of deaths. Clearly it is important to vaccinate for scours and take measures to prevent it. Losses can also be reduced by using early age calf intranasal or injectable respiratory vaccines.
Accidents and predators were the second most common cause of calf death at 29 percent.
Veterinarians were advocating pregnancy checking even when I graduated.
It is a no brainer to pregnancy check and cull the open and late cows in the fall, considering today’s larger herds, better systems and improved management practices.
Breeding issues can be detected and other problems can be treated during fall processing.
It surprised me that only 60 percent of those surveyed pregnancy check their cows and 66 percent their heifers. The cows are up from 49 percent in the 1998 survey, but I would guess that 80 percent or more of large herds pregnancy check.
The survey also found that 64 percent of producers semen test, which is up from 49 percent in the previous study.
Is it coincidental that the pregnancy checking stats and semen evaluating stats are almost identical? It’s most likely the same producers don’t do both procedures, so they would doubly benefit by removing infertile or sub fertile bulls through semen evaluating.
The large bull batteries are almost all tested, which can increase the cow-to-bull ratio. The standard is 25 to 1, but 35 to 1 can be achieved if synchronization is done first.
It is a worthwhile procedure, considering that zero to 20 percent of bulls fail their semen test.
The survey found less than 25 percent implant their young calves.
Implanting all non-replacement cattle (castrated bulls) would produce a huge amount of extra muscle on a national basis.
The survey also asked questions about castration methods, grazing and feeding practices, supplements and animal health practices.
The full survey results are available at www.wbdc.sk.ca.
