Pet or Profit-Maker: Producers should ponder culling decisions

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

July 25, 2002 -- With all of the recent rains and flooding in South Central Texas, producers need to consider the information they heard at the recent Independent Cattlemen's Association (ICA) meeting concerning the culling of livestock and calf management.

While most areas received anywhere from a few inches of rain, in some coastal areas, to as much as 50 inches in the Hill Country, producers are having to make decisions regarding their herd. Do you keep them, longer, or do you go ahead and take them to market?

"I know everybody can't sell cows in the spring time, and that's one of the times the market is better at selling," said Mike Brzozowski of Hills Prairie Livestock Auction.

He said that in the early fall, the market depends more on supply and demand, and the prices are usually a bit lower, depending of how many a producer decides to harvest and how many he plans to feed during the winter.

As far as culling livestock, Brzozowski said that many people wait too long to cull, for various reasons.

"Don't wait to 'keep her one more year,' or 'I fell in love with her,' or 'she's a pretty good cow and we've had her so long.' You're not going to be very profitable in the cow business thinking of a situation (culling) like that," he added.

Brzozowski said producers need to consider that if there are problems with the cows, now, there will be problems with them in the future.

Producers should also keep in mind that it's hard to "sneak" a bad cow through an auction. He said the cow will sell for what she is worth, rather than what the producer thinks she should bring.

Clayton Leonard, of L&H Packing in San Antonio, spoke to the group concerning packing practices and getting the most money at the harvest of cattle. He said a couple of problems packers continue to see include the brand position on the cow's hide and the bruising of cattle.

Many producers lose money because of a misplaced brand. Hides that could sell for leather car seats, if they are branded correctly, can lose out on that market if the brand is in the middle of the animal, thus rendering the skin less profitable.

Leonard also said bruising continues to be a big problem, although it is one that is easily remedied. When transporting cattle, some producers still crowd too many head onto a trailer, and they don't take the time to check for nails sticking out of the trailer - both of which can cause severe bruising that will discount the price of the cattle.

Also, cattle packed too tightly on a trailer causes extra stress on the animals, which results in a loss of profits for the producer.

There's just so much a packer can do to "fix" problems such as these, Leonard pointed out.