A common term in the industry is the “VAC-45” program. Combine this management strategy with known parentage information of herd sires, and producers become more geared to be price makers versus price takers.
Set a schedule for your proposed weaning date and make preparations for vaccinating calves with two rounds of vaccine prior to weaning.
Prepare a lot and catch pen where calves can be bunk trained and have access to water from a tank. Vaccines and facilities often hold back producers from taking the next step to preconditioning. However, necessity is the mother of invention. It is achievable to net an extra $50 per head, conservatively.
Of course, on 50 head, that’s $2,500. Feed a ration to achieve an average daily gain of 2.2 to 2.7 pounds. Keeping the cost of gain in check can help capture even more revenue on total pay weight. Visit with your local buyers and sale barns to see what options exist.
Spring calving
Breeding season spot checks are helpful to understand if fertility problems exist. Castrating calves earlier versus later is better on everyone. Steer calves will bring more than bull calves by $40 to $50 more per head if quality and genetics are equal.
Combine castration with implanting, and heavier, more marketable calves will hit the scales come payday. Producers transitioning from selling bull calves weaned on the trailer could easily make $100 per head on male calves when implementing castration, implanting and preconditioning.
Fall calving
Now is the time to look at thinning the herd, particularly if the pastures haven’t re-established or look sparse. Of course, a pregnancy checking day will help do most of this for you. The usual list of eyes, udders and teeth is common in the culling literature. Other candidates include pasture elephants.
At our research unit, an 1,855-pound commercial cow weaned a calf in 2016 with an adjusted weight of 496 pounds. She is not likely paying her feed bill, as the six head she weaned averaged 526 pounds on the scales. Don’t let single-trait selection for growth build a herd of pasture elephants. 
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Jason Duggin
- Beef Extension Specialist
- University of Georgia
- Email Jason Duggin
