Adding Value To Your Calves

Calf prices are at historic highs, and experts say there’s no better time to implement practices to maximize your revenue.  New data reveals that focusing on the health and development of weaned calves through strategic management and preconditioning programs can boost sale prices.  Dr. John Hutcheson is director of cattle technical services for Merck Animal Health. Superior Livestock Auction, Kansas State University, and Merck combined to study auction data analysis that shows which management programs and health protocols can help maximize the value of your cattle.

“On impact preconditioning, it's a big deal. So, remember the data that we've collected here are buyers buying calves that have these indicators of what they've done to it from a management standpoint," said Hutcheson.  "So that's number one is when these preconditioning calves, you have to go to a sale. If you've preconditioned them, go to a sale that recognizes the work you put into it, so that you can then get the value because these buyers are willing to pay. These calves are healthier. They've been vaccinated with two rounds of Clostridial with modified live virals. They've got some Pasteurella vaccines. They've likely been dewormed. They may have been implanted. They've been fed out of a bunk. They've got a water trough, and so they're ready for the next transition. And that value was $8.50 a hundred, which led to about 48 bucks a head in extra value, just for the fact they're in that program.”

Uniform Weight Is Desired

Hutcheson noted there were multiple important items they discovered from the data.

“They're putting out their checkbooks on these kinds of things that we see. They like cattle with no horns, so polled or de-horned, so no horns is important for them. Having a medium to large frame animal, so you know, these big weights in these feed yards, they want those cattle that have the structural soundness to be able to get to those big weights," Hutcheson added.  "Flesh: they don't want them over-conditioned, so they don't want them fat. They want them a little leaner and a little greener, so to speak, and so, they like a little less flesh. Then one of the big impacts was that they want to see uniform lots. They want to see that the calf crops’ weight range is pretty tight, in that they were all born similarly and close together, and so, those are some of the things, along with known genetics. You could identify known genetics. They like that genetic improvement.”

Data Shows How Producers Can Make More Money

Hutcheson talks about what the auction data showed about implants.

“It's pretty interesting. In this database, we have the things that impact price in a positive way, then we have some things that don't impact price but yet have a huge opportunity and a huge value to gain by the producer, and that's implants," he added.  "And so, those cattle that are implanted, we do not see a difference in the price paid for them, in these buyers and these sale barns. What we find is, it makes sense. I just mentioned some factors about cattle that they like to see. They like to see flesh. They like to see the frame. They like to see good genetics, which is muscularity. And so, you look at what an implant does, it gives them more muscle, it gives them a little more frame, and they're a little leaner, and so all those attributes are positive, so no change in price, and you get 23 pounds of added weight gain. You can do the math on the price of calves today.”

For producers looking for more information on preconditioning their calves.

“They can go to Primevac.com. That's our preconditioning site they can go to. And then I'll just leave them with this. In terms of economic impact, if you precondition those calves and get 48 more dollars, and you implant your calves and get 23 more pounds, at $3 a pound, that's $65 more," Hutcheson stressed.  "You're looking at over a $100 bill on two things that you can do. And I'm not saying preconditioning is easy, but there's money to be gained, along with the weight gain from an implant, there are a lot of dollars still there for producers to go after if they're not now.”

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