Rangeland Researchers Advise Smaller Cows for Better Herd Results

A recent interdisciplinary research team from several Land Grant University recently released study results that showed that breeding smaller cows could ease pressure on an increasingly drought-prone range. Oregon State University Cooperative Extension Livestock and Range Extension Agent Leticia Henderson says

Henderson: '"What we found out was that larger cows don't necessarily wean larger calves. We find that interesting because when you look at drought mitigation strategies you have your short term solutions of should we purchase more feed or should we sell off some of our cow herd. But when you start looking at those long term solutions, you really want to find a cow that matches her environment. So what we concluded was that in limited rangeland environments, those larger cows might not be able to capitalize on their genetic potential so they don't necessarily wean larger calves. The results of that indicates if you run smaller cows you can have a larger herd size. That allows you to spread out your fixed costs over a larger number of animals so your cost per cow goes down so your cost per unit produced which would be calves goes down. You are actually selling more calves that are weighing the same essentially."

She continues by sharing that often ranchers underestimate the size of their cows.

Henderson: "A lot producers actually think that they are running 1,200 pound cows and then you running them across a scales and they are a lot more than that. So one of the recommendations that I tell people now because of this is, 'Go home and weigh your cows first of all.' That should give you an idea of the forage resources that you are going to need."