Agricultural News
The Oklahoma Quality Beef Network Proves Preconditioning Pays
Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:45:16 CDT
Have you ever heard someone say that preconditioning calves doesn't pay? Have you ever said it yourself? In the past you were probably right but things are changing fast. The Oklahoma Quality Beef Network had been marketing preconditioned calves for several years now, but lately it has really come into its own. Stocker and feeder operators are recognizing the added value, and the demand for verified preconditioned calves is outpacing the supply. The key ingredient, however, is numbers. There is very little added value in a handful of preconditioned calves if the feeder has to throw them together with other calves to make a load or a pen of calves. When sufficient numbers of similarly treated calves come together at one sale, the whole picture changes, even if these calves come from several sellers.
Life is hard for a conventionally weaned and marketed calf when he leaves home. He is dealing with the stress of weaning, shipping, comingling, and diet change all at the same time. He probably hasn't had any vaccinations, or if he has, they haven't had time to work, so he is coping with limited immune protection. He also is likely not consuming enough to meet his nutritional requirements, walking to exhaustion, bawling until he loses his voice, and breathing dirt. Health losses for these calves can be staggering. Death loss is just the tip of the iceberg. Treatment costs for sick calves can be more than the calf can ever make up. Research has shown that calves with health problems, even if they recover, will never perform as well resulting in poor gains, high feed costs, and poor carcass scores. This results in tremendous loss to the industry. Many feeders have recognized this and are willing to share these dollars left on the table with the cow-calf producer, but only when they know the exact program the calf has had.
The statement that a calf is weaned and has had his shots has no value to a buyer. That may mean that he has been away from his mother just long enough to quit bawling and has had a shot of something. This calf, in fact, often is a worse health risk than the one fresh off of the cow because he may be just ready to get sick. Research has shown that in weaning calves there is something magic about 45 days. This gives the calf long enough to develop strong immunity from the vaccines he is given, time for his nutritional status to come back to a good level, and time for his immune system to manufacture more building blocks and recover from the suppression associated with weaning. Calves that are weaned on the ranch start much easier because they don't have the additional stresses of shipping and comingling added to the stress of weaning. The cow-calf operator also has the option to see that good vaccination protection and nutritional levels are in place before they are needed by vaccinating when calves are still on the cow and by teaching calves to eat high energy feeds before they are weaned.
So, does "value-added" really add value? Last year calves sold at OQBN sales brought a price premium of $8.12 per cwt over similar non-program calves sold the same day. The premium was even greater on the lighter classes. Additionally, these calves had an extra 45 days to grow than their counterparts that were marketed at weaning. Instead of arriving at the sale barn walking and bawling, they get off the truck looking to fill up and relax. These factors combined for much greater pay weights. Sometimes life can be about as hard for the cowman as it is for his weaned calf. Maybe it is time to start marketing our calves instead of selling them, and OQBN is positioned to help do so. The feeders are ready to pay for what they need if you are willing to deliver it. OQBN has 10 sales scheduled across the state this fall and winter, but to take advantage of the program you must make plans in time to wean your calves before cut-off dates. To find out if this program can work for you contact Doug McKinney at Oklahoma State University Department of Animal Science at 405-744-6060.
The first sale of the fall for the OQBN is at Durant on Thursday, September 9, 2010. CLick here for the OQBN website for more information.
Our thanks to Dr. Dave Sparks of OSU for his article from the weekly email publication Cow Calf Corner.
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