If a cow cannot pay for her own feed, then there is no return to your land or crop enterprise. A cow should also be paying for her own replacement. Jim VanDerlinde challenges the majority on culling decisions and explains his rationale. He shares a quick, user-friendly template to find the culling sweet spot for a dairy.
Source: Progressive Dairyman, February 22, 2018.
The very instant that future cull cows are milked down to just paying their own feed cost, you force the next cow to raise two heifers and carry the other expenses for the dairy.
Also see: Lameness can come back, Dairy Herd Management, February 27, 2018.
Researchers concluded repeated bouts of lameness made a large contribution to the total number of lameness events in the two herds.
INSIGHTS: Animal health pros servicing dairies will learn a lot about customers by engaging them in a discussion about these articles and helping them use VanDerline’s template. As milk prices drop, culling will be important for simple cash flow whether prompted by milk production benchmarks or recurrent lameness. Helping producers make the best decisions will strengthen your relationship with them.