Fall-breeding beef females failing to conceive during spring breeding

Abstract

ABSTRACT A study was conducted to evaluate the economics of retaining ownership and rebreeding nonpregnant spring-calving cows to be sold as pregnant fall-calving cows. Spring-born crossbred females diagnosed as nonpregnant after the regular spring breeding season were used over a 2-yr period at 2 locations, Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory (GSL) and West Central Research and Extension Center (WCREC). A partial budget analysis was performed to evaluate the economic aspects of this strategy; total cost was calculated by adding the purchase price, feeding and management cost, breeding expenses, and 6% annual interest rate on the purchase price. The net cost of one pregnant cow was calculated as the difference between total cost and cull value, divided by the number of pregnant cows. A sensitivity analysis evaluated the economics of retaining and rebreeding for market scenarios for the last 5 yr at different pregnancy rates. The overall rebreeding pregnancy rate was 86.1% at GSL and 80.0% at WCREC; the percentage of the pregnant cows that conceived in the first 21 d of the breeding season was 84.4% at GSL and 66.6% at WCREC. The increasing cow prices from November to April and a greater market price for pregnant females resulted in a net gain of $520.29 and $616.81 per pregnant female for GSL and WCREC, respectively. Simulation performed using market prices for the last 5 yr demonstrated the strategy is cost effective in different market scenarios, excluding 2012/2013 because of drought—feed prices were the highest and cow prices the lowest of the 5 yr analyzed. Other than atypical scenarios like drought, positive economic results may be possible even at low pregnancy rates, but as the pregnancy rate increases, net proceeds also increase.