What? no records? Cattlemen are often told to keep individual records on each cow and calf. Burt Teichert contradicts that and thinks that it is a waste of time. He says, you don’t really select cows. You eliminate or cull the ones you don’t want. You select bulls.
Source: Beef, September 1, 2017.
How do we cull the right cow without any paper or computerized records? It starts with the heifer calves, says Teichert. The research shows that yearling heifers that breed in the first cycle will average about one more calf in a lifetime and significantly more pounds of weaned calf. So, start by culling heifers that don’t breed early.
INSIGHTS: Teichert goes against the popular recordkeeping grain with this article. He shares great common sense and offers perspectives about prioritization that many cattlemen have forgotten.