What are the effects of preconditioning cattle at weaning?
In the beef cattle business the question commonly asked is, what are the effects of preconditioning weaned cattle? Well through many studies I can confidently say that preconditioning cattle is a must, but the way the beef industry works, it does not always look to be profitable to the commercial cow calf producer. When preconditioning cattle it will add in more expenses and more labor to be able to implement these practices when the cow calf producer could not reap the maximum amount of benefits from this act. According to Hersom et al. (2015) “(The) demand for preconditioned calves in the beef industry has increased the willingness of beef cattle producers to implement cost-effective …show more content…
With that being said, there is one common goal that can be applied to every sector of the beef industry. While it may sound simple, that goal is to make the most capitol gain as possible. Where preconditioning weaned cattle can make I huge difference is offering cattle that are ready to into a feedlot setting and not require any extra maintenance. While stated before, preconditioning can account for many different things such as castrating the male calves, dehorning, and giving the cattle one or more commonly two rounds of vaccinations to insure good health. While the previously stated is very important, one of the biggest things is having the calves weaned from their dams for 45 to 60 days. While the calves are off of their dams it is critical to maintain good health throughout the group because this is such a high stress time in the young calves life. One of the best ways to insure good health is to feed the cattle some kind of medicated feed such as a product offered by Purina Mills called Precon. While feeding the calves a ration of this type will help to keep their immune systems in control but it doubles as a way to get the cattle used to coming to the feed bucket and getting them bunk broke which in turn allows a easier transition period after the cattle are marketed after …show more content…
“This study compared pasture preconditioning profitability methods with a high level of nutritional input to a lower input approach to evaluate performance and profit from weaning through slaughter.” Mathis et al. (2009). In this study calves received one round of vaccinations were castrated before weaning. Cattle were then weighed and fence weaned from their dams for seven days before being shipped to pasture for 53 days before being shipped to a commercial feedlot for the finishing phase. For the first seven days the high impute calves received alfalfa hay placed around a self-feeder to acclimate them to a concentrated ration while the low input calves were feed 32% protein range cubes three times while having free choice grass hay. The cattle were complied with the VAC-45 weaning protocol for the first 49 days and weighed every 28 days. In conclusion “The cost of nutritional inputs has a substantial influence on the profitability of a preconditioning program. Grazing calves on native rangelands at a higher rate of body weight gain can better prepare calves to remain healthy after shipping. However, the increased feed input costs often required to achieve a higher rate of body weight gain on pasture may not be cost effective relative to a lower cost approach if calves are sold after the preconditioning or
In the beef cattle business the question commonly asked is, what are the effects of preconditioning weaned cattle? Well through many studies I can confidently say that preconditioning cattle is a must, but the way the beef industry works, it does not always look to be profitable to the commercial cow calf producer. When preconditioning cattle it will add in more expenses and more labor to be able to implement these practices when the cow calf producer could not reap the maximum amount of benefits from this act. According to Hersom et al. (2015) “(The) demand for preconditioned calves in the beef industry has increased the willingness of beef cattle producers to implement cost-effective …show more content…
With that being said, there is one common goal that can be applied to every sector of the beef industry. While it may sound simple, that goal is to make the most capitol gain as possible. Where preconditioning weaned cattle can make I huge difference is offering cattle that are ready to into a feedlot setting and not require any extra maintenance. While stated before, preconditioning can account for many different things such as castrating the male calves, dehorning, and giving the cattle one or more commonly two rounds of vaccinations to insure good health. While the previously stated is very important, one of the biggest things is having the calves weaned from their dams for 45 to 60 days. While the calves are off of their dams it is critical to maintain good health throughout the group because this is such a high stress time in the young calves life. One of the best ways to insure good health is to feed the cattle some kind of medicated feed such as a product offered by Purina Mills called Precon. While feeding the calves a ration of this type will help to keep their immune systems in control but it doubles as a way to get the cattle used to coming to the feed bucket and getting them bunk broke which in turn allows a easier transition period after the cattle are marketed after …show more content…
“This study compared pasture preconditioning profitability methods with a high level of nutritional input to a lower input approach to evaluate performance and profit from weaning through slaughter.” Mathis et al. (2009). In this study calves received one round of vaccinations were castrated before weaning. Cattle were then weighed and fence weaned from their dams for seven days before being shipped to pasture for 53 days before being shipped to a commercial feedlot for the finishing phase. For the first seven days the high impute calves received alfalfa hay placed around a self-feeder to acclimate them to a concentrated ration while the low input calves were feed 32% protein range cubes three times while having free choice grass hay. The cattle were complied with the VAC-45 weaning protocol for the first 49 days and weighed every 28 days. In conclusion “The cost of nutritional inputs has a substantial influence on the profitability of a preconditioning program. Grazing calves on native rangelands at a higher rate of body weight gain can better prepare calves to remain healthy after shipping. However, the increased feed input costs often required to achieve a higher rate of body weight gain on pasture may not be cost effective relative to a lower cost approach if calves are sold after the preconditioning or