Abstract
The bioeconomic efficiency of cow-calf systems was compared by a deterministic dynamic simulation. The simulation model considered stable cow-calf systems differentiated by the maximum age for culling cows, lifetime, culled at 4–13 years old. The necessary supply of metabolizable energy for the herd was established as natural grasslands, cultivated pasture in the winter/spring, and pre-dried pasture produced by the system. The biological efficiency of the systems was considered the ratio between the production of total live weight and the metabolizable energy consumed over one production cycle. Economic efficiency was determined by the ratio between gross margin and production area and the ratio between gross margin and number of cows. Bioeconomic efficiency was determined by a simple linear regression between biological efficiency, economic efficiency per area, and economic efficiency per cow. The efficiency of the animal unit, considering biological efficiency and economic efficiency per area were better in the system that culled cows at 4 years old, while economic efficiency per cow was better in the system that culled cows at 13 years old. In determining the bioeconomic efficiency of the systems, the best results were found in the system that culled cows at 6 years old, which suggests that the best efficiency of a cow-calf herd is reached when the adult age and mature weight of the cow are reached, and there is no more energy used for growing. The results indicate that stable cow-calf herds express their best biological efficiency and economic efficiency per area when the cow culling age is lower. However, economic efficiency per cow depends on cows that remain in the herd as long as possible. The culling age of cow that balances these biological and economic indicators is reached around 5 and half years.
Highlights
The economic viability of cow-calf systems is associated with many factors such as environmental, socio-economic, labor, biological efficiency of cows, and others
When analyzing ME, the impact of the metabolizable energy for the maintenance (MEm) of the production systems must be considered, which is the unproductive portion of the ME and represents about 50% of the total herd requirement only for cow maintenance [3]
This is because, the older the animals, the more energy they need for maintenance until they reach their mature weight [4], which makes them less efficient in transforming the energy consumed into muscle, meat products
Summary
The economic viability of cow-calf systems is associated with many factors such as environmental, socio-economic, labor, biological efficiency of cows, and others. To achieve satisfactory results in the activity, the herd must be structured to reach the highest possible productive capacity of these animals when transforming feed resources into a commercialized product With this purpose, research has measured the biological efficiency of the cow-calf system through the use of metabolizable energy (ME) for calf production [1, 2]. The aim of farmers is simpler, producing a calf per cow/year, the conversion ratios of ME into live weight kilogram is what determine the efficiency of cow-calf system This difference in the use of ME makes this indicator relevant for efficiency analysis of production systems, as well as the economic impact of the variation in the culling age of cows
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