Factors to Get the Most Cows and Heifers Pregnant

Research has indicated it takes the net revenue from approximately 6 calves to cover the development and production costs of each replacement heifer (E. M. Mousel Unpublished data). In addition, any cow that misses a single calving is not likely to recover the lost revenue of that missed calf (Mathews and Short, 2001). Therefore, longevity of a beef female is important to the sustainability and profitability of any beef operation. Considering the importance of longevity, an important question is as follows: Why are females culled from a beef herd? According to the 2007-08 NAHMS survey the greatest percentage of cows culled from the herd was due to pregnancy status (33.0%); other reasons for culling included age or bad teeth (32.1%), economic reasons (14.6%), other reproductive problems (3.9%), producing poor calves (3.6%), temperament (3.6%), injury (2.9%), udder problems (2.7%), bad eyes (1.8%), and other problems (1.8%). Therefore, understanding how management decisions impact pregnancy success and longevity will have an effect on the profitability and sustainability of an operation.