Cow Calf Operation

A cow-calf operation means that their business is about breeding cows and getting new calves each year. The calves are sold to operations that spend time fattening them up until they are sent to slaughter houses (this is called harvesting in the cattle business). That fattening up can take place on open range or at feed lots where many of cows are put together in limited space and fed grass and/or supplements to fatten and finish them.

On a cow-calf ranch every year all of the calves are sold, along with some of the older cows who can no longer be healthy or cows that aren’t able to get pregnant. A few replacement cows will be purchased and occasionally a new bull but most of the herd remains the same every year.

Bulls are selected for their ability to get cows pregnant and then for the breeding to produce calves that can gain a lot of weight. Cross breeding is common so the bulls probably aren’t the same breed as the cow. I’ve talked about this before in my posting about Hybrid Vigor.

It costs about $550 to maintain one cow for a year and if she doesn’t get pregnant (an open cow) that money is essentially lost. High fertility rates are crucial to making money in the cattle business. A bull typically will breed with 20-30 cows each year and you’d like at least 90% of them to get pregnant. After breeding the bulls’ only job is to eat.

Castrated steers can’t breed so their only value is weight gain. Pregnant cows form the basis of the beef cattle business.

Each cow-calf herd has one or two 2-3 month breeding times which is dependent on the weather and natural resources for eating. You determine the breeding time based on when you want the calves born to give them the best chance of being delivered safely and having good weather and food.

A cow, like a person, has a 9 month gestation period. As an example, you decide that you want your cows born in October & March (Fall herd and the Spring herd) because of weather/feed conditions. (Having two herds spreads out the financial risk if prices fall unexpectedly) You would then introduce the cows to the bulls nine months before those months. Most would get pregnant within 30 days and a few probably not for another month or two. Some ranches have a policy that the cow only gets 30 days to get pregnant. If they don’t they are shipped off.

After the calves are born they then nurse with their mothers milk. Typically after a 30 days period the calves are separated (weaned) from their mothers and expected to eat forage. Calves will weight between 50 and 100 pounds when born and a typical cow will probably have 7-10 calves over the years.

After weaning each calf is separated from their mother (a stressful time for both), inspected for any health issues, given several protective shots, and branded for security. Male calves will be castrated and any cows with horns will have the horns cut off which prevents them from growing.

The calves are grass fed for 45 days and then it’s off to the auction house in a truck and trailer transport where they are sold to the next level cattle operation.