I was working with my cattle to day and snapped a picture of two of my cows in the lane coming back from the corral. Turns out these are 2 extremes of a cow size vs profitability question I have been wrestling with in my "spare" time.

Here is a photo of my least profitable cow, long, deep, "good-looking" #77 (on the left) and one of my most profitable cows, scruffy-looking #39 (on the right). #39 is not one of my target 1200 lb cows but a pleasant surprise as a producer.

Corrected to BCS 5, 77 had a weight at weaning 3 weeks ago of 1650 lb. Her actual weight was 1745 lb! Her very average steer calf had a 205 day ww of only 613 lb. 613/1650 = only 37%!

#39 corrected to BCS 5 weighed 1250, her actual was 1325 lb. Her very nice heifer calf had a 205 day ww of 639 lb. 639/1250 = 51%!

This points out to me the benefits of data.

And from working with both of these cows in a rotational system, I don't need any lab RFI tests to tell me that 77 has consumed a WHOLE lot more grass, hay etc producing her calf than 39 has consumed producing hers.

FWIW,   Jim at Dawn

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