The Sioux Nation Podcast
The Sioux Nation Podcast
Adding Value to Your Calves
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
With the goal of producing a healthy calf that is prepared for the next stage of production and attractive to buyers, producers can employ practices and management decisions that add value and make economic sense.
Welcome to the Sue Nation Podcast, where we explore the stories, science, and challenges shaping the livestock industry today. I'm your host, Joe Funky. For cow calf producers, producing a healthy calf is only part of the equation. The decisions made before those calves leave the operation can have a significant impact on how they're received by buyers and ultimately really what they're worth. So joining us today to talk about some of the ways producers can add value to their calf crop is Dr. Chris Thompson from the Beef Technical Services Department of Merck Animal Health. Dr. Thompson, welcome to the Sue Nation Podcast.
SPEAKER_01Hey, hey, thanks a lot for having me here today.
SPEAKER_00So vaccination programs, weaning, nutrition, genetics, documentation, and even how calves are marketed can all play a role in adding value. But adding value doesn't necessarily mean simply spending more money or putting on more pounds. The goal is to make management decisions that improve the calf's potential while reducing risk for the next person in the production chain. So, Dr. Thompson, when we talk about adding value to beef calves, what does that really mean?
SPEAKER_01I think it's one adding dollar value to the cow calf guy, but that's only part of it. I think making sure those calves are prepped for the next stage of production adds a lot of value. And there's a ton of things that go into that. Weight adds value. We know that. More pounds, typically more money. Calves have a genetic potential that they can reach. And we need to do everything in our power to allow those calves to reach that genetic potential. You know, nutrition plays a huge role in that. And nutrition plays a role in weight gain. But on the flip side, if our nutrition's lacking, we're going to probably have some health challenges as well. So nutrition's a key thing that we need to focus in on adding value, uniformity, we'll get into preconditioning programs, weaning, you know, those are other things that can definitely help add value to those calves.
SPEAKER_00So before producers start investing either additional time or money into those calves, how should they determine which value added practices are actually likely to prove to provide a return? And can you give us examples of factors that you found don't affect the sale price of calves?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So every year, Mark Animal Health partners with both Superior Livestock and Kansas State University to analyze all the data from the Superior sales. So, you know, last year Superior sold a little over 860,000 head of cattle. So it's it's a big database that we can get. And you know, we can kind of see some trends as to what is affecting sale prices. So, you know, we know that uniform calves sell for a premium price. I mean, if they're a very even group of calves, that's about $24 a head that can be added. Implanting calves translates into additional pounds to sell. Vaccination programs, weaning, those things have premiums associated with them as well. Some things that don't did not affect sale prices last year include implant status, and that goes back farther than last year. I mean, for the last 10 plus years, whether a calf's implanted or not does not affect sale price. Gap certification last year did not affect sale price. Natural plus programs, if we're doing BVD testing and we're persistently infected free, that didn't have an effect, and neither did Bang's vaccination of heifers in the in the 2025 sales data.
SPEAKER_00So let's talk about calf health. How important is good vaccination and preventative health programming when it comes to creating value for that next calf owner?
SPEAKER_01Well, we know that healthy calves are gonna perform way better than a calf that gets sick. So by strategically using a vaccination and parasite control program that's tailored to the ranch, our goal is to keep the calves healthy before they leave and keep them healthy as they transition into the next stage of production. Because if they get sick on the ranch, they're never gonna hit that genetic potential, they're never gonna perform as well as a calf that didn't get sick. Ideally, the next owner is gonna get that information and know what program the calves have been on, and then they can tailor their health program accordingly and keep those calves on the right track and headed into the right direction.
SPEAKER_00Sure. And then what would you like to say about implants?
SPEAKER_01So the biggest thing about implants is they just improve efficiency of cattle by somewhere between 13 and 15 percent. So if we use a nursing calf implant like a Ralgro, we know it's gonna add roughly 23 pounds to our weaning weight. Today's market that's worth 85 to 100 bucks. And if we do the math, that's a 40 to 50 to 1 return on investment. So I'd like to have more things that give me a 40 to 50 one, 50 to 1 return on investment. That's pretty solid. So it is. Um and you know, like I said earlier, historically the implants do not have any effect on the sale price when we when we look at the data coming out of all the superior sales over the last several years.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so if we look beyond vaccination, what are the basic management practices such as castration, dehorning, parasite control, that should be ideally completed before those calves are marketed?
SPEAKER_01Things like castration and dehorning should be performed as early in life as possible. I mean, the longer we wait, the harder it is on the calves. You know, if we have to wait till a calf's 400 pounds to castrate it, we're gonna set its performance back. Whereas if we can maybe ban them at birth or something, they're never even gonna know what happened. Same goes for dehorning. Get those things done as early as possible. Strategic parasite control can also play big dividends. If we look at external parasite control, so like flies in the summer, and then strategic deworming for internal parasites, those are things that are both gonna help improve gain. And again, we're we want that calf to be able to reach its genetic potential. Those are additional things we can do to help assure that that happens.
SPEAKER_00Now, Dr. Thompson, we hear uh quite a bit about preconditioning programs. So, what does a good preconditioning program look like? And why can a preconditioned calf be more attractive to a buyer?
SPEAKER_01Well, there's a lot of factors that go into preconditioning, but the goal is to have healthy, high-performing calves on the ranch that are also prepared for the next stage of production, whether that's stock or phase on grass or going straight into a feedlot, whatever. We want them ready to get there. So to me, we want to bring value to the cow calf guy as well as the next owner. So, again, going back, get those management things like castration and dehorning done early in life, you know, making sure our nutrition programs are absolutely solid, controlling those internal and external parasites and getting those calves vaccinated before they leave, all of that influences a successful preconditioning program. Other things like getting calves used to eating dry feed from feed bunks and drinking from automatic waters, that's a big help. A VAC 34 program is going to be the most common preconditioning program that we see that does not involve weaning. That one requires two rounds of vaccines before those calves are shipped. And to me, I want to see that second round of vaccines at least three to four weeks before shipping, and that gives that calf enough time to really respond to those vaccines. And we're doing that in a very low stress environment because we're going to give the vaccines and that cow's going right back to mom. It's going to go back on milk and grass for a diet, and we should get a very good response to those vaccines. And that way that calf will have good protection when it does go on to that next stage of production.
SPEAKER_00Okay, and so when we're talking about then weaning, right? The weaning period, how important is the weaning period? What advantages does a calf have that has been weaned for, let's say, 30 to 60 days over a calf that is weaned at or immediately before that sale?
SPEAKER_01So weaning is by far the most stressful time in a calf's life. So if we can do it at home, we can do it in a much more low stress manner. You know, whether we're using the nose flaps or if we're doing fence line weaning or something like that, we can do it in a very low stress manner. And if we can do that, those calves are gonna start eating and drinking quicker, they're gonna gain more weight, and they're going to be less likely to get sick. Ideally, I like to shoot for at least 45 days weaned. 45 to 60 is kind of that sweet spot for me. And if we can get that, their health and performance is gonna be much better when they get to the feedlot versus if we take them right off the cow. They've got to deal with all that stress, new environment, new friends, whole nine yards, probably a different zip code. If we can get that done at home and get those calves really lined out, you know, whoever gets them next is gonna have very, very few problems with them.
SPEAKER_00So I think we talked a little bit about this a second ago, but can you talk about the role that bunk and waterer training plays in preparing these calves for that next stage of production?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's very important. I mean, if we look at most of our calves that are out on pasture with their moms, you know, they may be drinking out of a live water stream or a pond or something like that. And if we immediately wing those calves and dump them in a dry lot pen where here's this funny looking object either on the fence line or in the middle of the pen that they've never seen before and it's full of water, they don't know what to do with it. Same thing with feed bunks. They're used to walking around on grass pasture and having feed underneath them all the time. And if they're on a dirt lot with no grass under them and no mom, it's gonna take them a while to figure out where that feed bunk is. And then, you know, beyond that, if they've never seen any of that dry feed, you know, a lot of people will start on hay because it's it's you know, some dry hay is fairly close to grass. But if we're if we've got a different type of ration that they've never seen before and never seen a feed bunk, it's gonna take them a while longer to get used to it. And again, nutrition is key to health. So if they're not eating and not drinking, their risk of illness goes up. So I think if we can get them used to feed bunks and automatic waterers at home before they go, they're gonna have a much smoother transition.
SPEAKER_00Now, nutrition is obviously an important part of adding pounds, but more pounds doesn't automatically mean more profit. So, how should producers evaluate the cost of gain versus the value of that additional weight?
SPEAKER_01That's where we got to get into some higher level math. You know, we need to know exactly what our feedstuffs cost so we can figure out a cost of gain. And then we need to look at, okay, we're selling heavier calves that usually bring a little bit less per hundred weight. We've got to do that math for everybody's operation because everybody's got a different cost of gain, and just do the math and figure it out. Now, part of our partnership with K-State is they've got a website called Agmanager.info, and there's a tool on there that will help producers put in their information and kind of figure out, okay, this works for me, this doesn't work for me, but it's a really good tool to help determine whether or not a lot of these different programs will work, especially if we're looking at weaning and keeping them on feed for 45 to 60 days.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so where might supplementation, creep feeding, or even a short backgrounding period fit into a value-added strategy? Are there particular situations where those approaches make more sense than others?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it's all dependent on what our end marketing goal is and our current pasture conditions. You know, out where I live right now, we are super, super dry. So getting some protein supplement in all these calves is probably a very good idea and their moms, because we know that our our forages that we're grazing are not very good right now. Creep feeding can be beneficial, especially if we're gonna be weaning, because we can get that creep in them before they wean. Once we wean them, they're gonna go right on that feed. They know what it is, they are gonna eat it. Again, if if we're gonna get into that weaning thing, I really like a minimum of 45 days. It just seems like shorter than that isn't long enough, and we end up having some problems. So I really like a minimum of 45 days if we're gonna wean in background these calves. So we've just got to figure out how we're gonna market these calves and and then work backwards and and see what works. And and you know, we got to tailor it for every individual year. I mean, there's a lot of parts of the country that are in drought right now, and that's a different situation than if we've got really, really good pastures into the fall.
SPEAKER_00How much value can genetics, and these are not these two things are not related, but how much value can genetics and good record keeping bring to a calf crop?
SPEAKER_01Well, I'll start with record keeping because historically in the beef world, we've been we've done a very poor job of moving records from one owner to the next. Most of the time, what's done at the cow calf level does not get transmitted to whoever gets that calf next. And I I think there's value in it, and I think that's something that our industry needs to do a better job of is transmitting those records to the next level. Because if they've got the history, they can tailor what they're doing a little bit differently and and kind of know what to look out for. Genetics have a huge value. It's hard to put an economic value on it. We know that you know a lot of our better genetics are going to typically correlate with better performance. If we have better performances and higher quality carcasses, we're gonna get more repeat buyers and things like that. I don't think we're to the point where we're tracking an animal from birth to plate very often at this point in time. But if we can get people to get that genetic data, if a cow calf guy can get closeout data from the feed yard, they can make different genetic decisions into the calves that they're gonna raise in the coming years. So a lot of it boils down to communications. I mean, there's a lot of good information out there. We're not very good at utilizing all of it currently because we we have some communication breakdowns throughout the different parts of the beef industry.
SPEAKER_00Earlier, you'd mentioned some programs, and I'd like to talk about source and age verification, BQA, right? Gap, you talked about non-hormone treated cattle, genetic programs, natural proto programs, and other certifications. What I want to ask is how should producers decide whether participating in any of those programs makes economic sense for their operation? And you did touch on this um when we asked about if those uh had any effect on pricing.
SPEAKER_01So I'll start with BQA and the data we've looked at, there's there's no economic premium for being BQA certified, but it is something I encourage everybody to do because at the end of the day, our goal is to produce wholesome beef to give to an end user consumer who's going to consume that beef. So I think BQA is important even if we don't see an economic return from it. Getting into some of the other programs, GAP in 2025, 2025 did not statistically pay for itself in cattle sold through superior livestock. There's probably other marketing opportunities that may have better premiums for GAP cattle, but from what we looked at, GAP did not pay last year. If we look at an NHTC type program, so non-hormone treated, non-implanted, this one's been pretty solid over the past, I don't know, five or six years. It pays about $20 a head. You know, if with prices right now and additional pounds through an implant, I don't think that $20 is probably enough right now to warrant not implanting. There's some other natural programs and things like that. And from what we see in Superior, they're not paying at this point. Again, that Agmanager.info website, you can plug your information in. And if you want to do NHTC, it'll throw that premium in there. Gap statistically did not pay last year. But again, there's other marketing avenues. And if producers have another marketing avenue, I mean, at the end of the day, the end consumer dictates what we sell. And we know that over 90% of everything consumed is conventional cattle, you know, that get implants and that kind of thing. But that still leaves us, you know, somewhere in that 8 to 10% range of consumers that want NHTC beef or they want gap certified or they want an agent source verification. So there's opportunity there, and that's something that a producer is just gonna have to dig into on their own and and figure out if that works for their operation.
SPEAKER_00Dr. Thompson, if a cow calf producer asked you what are three things I could do this year to add more value to my calves before I sell them, what would you tell them?
SPEAKER_01First thing I'm gonna do is I am gonna do some type of a synchronization program on my cows. And we don't have to have multiple trips through the shoot to synchronize. This can be one of the most basic synchronization programs that we can utilize using bulls to breed, is we turn our bulls in, we give the all the cows a dose of a prostaglandin five days later. So if we use we turn the bulls out for five days, get everybody in, give them a dose of estroomate, and then just kick them back out. You know, that prostaglandin is not gonna affect anything that got bred in the first five days, and we're gonna have a high percentage of those cows that will respond to that prostaglandin. So by doing that, we're gonna get more of those calves born early in that calving season in that first cycle. By doing that, those calves are gonna be more uniform and they're gonna be 20 to 40 pounds heavier when it comes time to sell them. So synchronization is gonna be the first thing I'm gonna do. I'm gonna implant all my calves at branding, and I'm gonna strategically deworm them in the summer. And, you know, those three things I think all have a very good return on investment and will add a lot of value.
SPEAKER_00Well, that sounds good. Ultimately, our goal is to produce a calf that is healthy, it's prepared for the next stage of production, and it's gonna be attractive to the buyer, but we have to do this while making sure that any practices we use to create that value also make economic sense for our cow calf producer. So, Dr. Thompson, thank you so much for joining us today and helping us uh think about adding value to our calves as more than simply adding those pounds.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for the opportunity to be here.
SPEAKER_00Now, one programming note to mention today is a name change. Recently, Soonation Ag Center was purchased by FormaFeed, and we are rebranding the name of our media platforms under our Advocator brand of written audio and video content, which is created for the modern agricultural producer. So going forward, the Soonation Podcast will be now referred to as the Advocator Podcast, a collaborative program for the modern ag producer. Please check out our Advocator magazine, which is a publication for ag producers and their families, and the Advocator video series, which brings innovative solutions to ag producers. Listeners, thank you for tuning in. We'll catch you next time with more guests and topics related to the current ag climate.