Expert: Karin - 11/15/2011

Question
Please could you answer the following questions as the questions are a general interest to me.

Profitability of beef production

Animal health and welfare issues in beef production

Labour requirenments in beef production

diease control in beef production

Profitability of dairy production

Animal health and welfare issues in dairy production

Labour requirenments in dairy production

diease control in dairy production

thanks

Answer
Hi Abbi,

The "questions" below are all too general for me to be able to give you a quick, short response.There are a lot of things that are involved in all and any of the subjects you have asked me to write about, enough to do a number of essays on.  However, I will fill you in on the general details you need to know about each subject.  

Profitability of beef production

Your profitability in the beef sector depends on many factor as well as what enterprise of the beef sector you are in, as far as raising cattle is concerned: commercial cow-calf (suckler herd), purebred cow-calf, stocker/backgrounding or feedlot/finishing operation.

In the commercial cow-calf profit is made when calves, upon weaning, are sold to market.  However this is gross profit, not net profit.  

In the purebred cow-calf sector, gross profit is made when selling purebred registered yearling heifers and bulls to other producers (commercial or purebred) to use in their herds.

In the stocker/backgrounding operation, the steer or heifer herd that is bought is sold in a few months or a year's time after growing them out on a high-forage-based ration to ready them for the feedlot.  Gross Profit comes from the price that these animals were sold for.

In the finisher/feedlot operation, gross profit is made after the animals that are bought from stocker or cow-calf/backgrounding operations are finished and sold to the slaughter plant.  

Since I mentioned above that all the profit a beef cattle producer from selling their animals is gross profit , I'm referring to the fact that I didn't include all the expenses and liabilities that have to be made in order to be able to actually run the operation, and this is for ALL the enterprises mentioned above.  Thus Gross Profit is not TRUE profit.

Most cattle operations that follow the conventional means of raising cattle have a net loss rather than a net profit.  This is because of the expenses that are needed like fuel, fertilizer and feed to be able to raise these animals.  Other expenses also include repair bills on machinery, veterinary bills, fencing repair/building, etc.  The biggest costs in any cattle operation, though is the three F's mentioned above: Fuel, Fertilizer and Feed.  Any operation that has high input of any or all three of these will have a lower net profit or a higher net loss than an operation that makes minimal to no use of these expenses.

In the cow-calf industry, profit is determined by three things: optimizing (not maximizing) productivity which is measured by pounds of calf weaned per cow (often measured on a $/lb/calf weaned basis), controlling feed costs (by integrating managed intensive grazing on your pastures, introducing winter grazing programs, managing operating costs [fuel and labour] associated with feeding the herd), and controlling your fixed costs or overheads (which are feeding and feed handling equipment).  In the feedlot and backgrounding sector, profit is determined primarily by the last two points, as well as average daily gain of the animals being fed.

In cow-calf herds, profitability is also measured by the G.O.L.D standard:

Growth (weaning wt):  Calves that are not at least 43% of their dams weight at weaning is a sign that your cowherd is suffering and lacking in adequate growth.  It's not all about the bigger the calf the better, it's about the weaning weight of the calf your cows are able to achieve for you to profit off of.  For instance, it's not a good sign if your 1400 lb cows are weaning off 500 lb calves.  But it's a great sign if your 1000 lb cows are weaning off 500 to 600 lb calves, at the average 205-day weaning period.

Open Cows (%): The higher the percentage, the bigger problems you are facing.  The reasons for cows coming up open depends on a number of factors: poor nutritional management, poor fertility in the herd, inadequate herd health or poor fertility in your herd bulls. Any of these factors need to be reviewed in order to improve the quality of your herd.

Length of Calving Period (days): Length of calving is another indicator of fertility in your herd.  Typically herds that have a calving period that is longer than 60 days have issues with low fertility in the herd. For herds that encourage good fertility, calving periods should be between 45 and 60 days in length.

Death Loss of Calves (%): This is an assessment of the health of your herd for the number of calves that died between birth and weaning.  The benchmark is 4%.  Ideally, a cow-calf herd should have death loss of only 1 to 2%, but if losses are 5% or higher, this is an indication that you need to spruce up your program to make sure most calves are going to be coming up to weaning alive.  Death losses have a lot to do with herd health, nutritional health and your management strategies.  If you are lacking in one or any of these fields, you must contact your large animal vet, a bovine nutritionist and a livestock specialist to see where you are going wrong and create a system that will minimize death losses.

See this link for more on the GOLD management indicators of a cow-calf operation: http://www.spiritviewranch.com/pdfstatic/Key%20Success%20Factors%20in%20cow-calf

Also see these links for more on profitability in the beef industry:
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/newslett.nsf/pdf/agrp407/$file/v2_2final
http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/Default.aspx?DN=945e82a6-d075-4844-8afd-b6ebd96

Animal health and welfare issues in beef production

This is an ambiguous "question" that I would love to see more detail on. Like, what sort of animal health/welfare issues are you wondering about?

I do know that in your country the main causes for concern as far as welfare issues are concerned in the beef industry are castration and dehorning, both without anesthetics. As far as animal health is concerned, it would be considered negligence and inhumane if you don't fail to update on vaccinations every year, and adopt quarantine practices for any new animals that come into the herd.  Please see your veterinarian on any herd health issues and practices and welfare concerns that you may have in regards to raising beef cattle.

Labour requirements in beef production

I really cannot answer this, as this is much to vague for me to follow through on.  Could you maybe try to clarify this in another question you may send me after this, and give me an example that you are thinking of that I can give you an answer to? The reason I say this is that there are MANY factors that determine the labour requirements in beef production.  As I mentioned above, the term "beef production" encompasses several enterprises (commercial cow-calf, pureberd cow-calf, stocker/background and finisher/feedlot), all which have their own labour requirements and details that need to be discussed.  So if you could be more clear on this subject I would gladly answer it for you. :)

Disease control in beef production

You must see your large animal veterinarian about this.  As I mentioned above in the Animal Heath for beef production above, it's all about maintaining annual/biannual vaccination programs for all your animals according to their needs and the proper times to vaccinate for them.  Quarantining new animals is also a good measure to go with for disease control.

Profitability of dairy production

Unlike the beef production sector, profitability in dairy operations is centered around lbs of milk produced per day.  Fixed costs/overheads and feed/fertilizer/fuel costs are also a concern with dairy producers, but not nearly as much as with beef producers.  Dairy producers see a higher net profit with their operation than beef producers do.

Animal health and welfare issues in dairy production

The main health and welfare issues that surround the dairy industry is the welfare of the cows (for instance, people think that milking cows is cruel and hurts the cow, which couldn't be farther from the truth) as far as milking and care is concerned, as well as for the calves.  The biggest opposition that dairies receive from the general public is that calves are separated from their mothers shortly after birth.  People tend to anthropomorphise things quite a bit and don't realize that dairy cows don't have a powerful mothering ability or attachment to their young ones as a beef cow, a human mother or a mare does.  Dairy cows have been bred so much for one trait that their mothering instincts have just about gone out the window.  They will call for their calves for a couple days, but soon forget about them and go about their everyday routine of getting milked twice a day.  Calves soon forget about their mothers too, and settle down quite quickly to getting milk from the bottle every day.

All heifers are raised and used for milk, and are only culled if a) they are not producing enough milk as far as breed standards and the producer is concerned, b) they cannot produce a calf in order to give milk, or c) are too sick or injured to be used as a part of the milking herd.  These go for cows as well.

Health issues stem around dairy cows' ability to get disease such as mastitis, milk fever, or acodisis, three of the most common disease in dairy cattle.  Mastitis is infection of the udder, and is often caused by injury or a lack of cleanliness (bedding not cleaned every day, muddy lots, etc), which invites bacteria to get inside the udder and cause inflammation and infection.  Cows with mastitis cannot have their milk put in with the rest of the milk from the healthier cows due to food safety standards.  Milk fever is a case were a cow does not have enough calcium reserves in her body to be able to produce milk, and commonly occurs immediately after calving.  It is often a fatal condition if not treated immediately.  But it is a condition that can be prevented, simply by not feeding calcium-rich feeds to cows 10 days prior to calving. Acidosis occurs when cows are put on a high-energy ration too quickly, causing grey, foamy diarrhea and listlessness.  Acidosis occurs in the rumen, and is a condition when the pH falls rapidly (or acidity increases rapidly) inducing the growth and production of lactic-acid loving bacteria that help decrease the pH in the rumen. A cow can and will die from acute acidosis if not treated right away.

Labour requirements in dairy production

Generally speaking, labour requirements are HUGE in dairy production.  You cannot run a dairy farm by yourself, especially a large one you are intent on making money off of.  You need to hire people to help you with managing cows, heifers and calves, as well as for field work and feeding cows.  You also need to hire someone to do finances and keep up with records.  

Disease control in dairy production

As mentioned above with the beef production, organizing and creating a herd health program (from vaccinations to quarantine) for your dairy herd is the only way to control diseases in your herd.

I hope that has answered most of your questions.  If you have anything specific, please let me know. :)

-Karin