Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Symposium Paper: Economic And Tax Implications For Managing Beef Replacement Heifers, R. T. Clark, K. W. Creighton, H. H. Patterson, T. N. Barrett

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Sustainable cowherds require replacement of cull cows either internally via raised heifers or externally with purchased females. Managing raised replacements begins with a weaned heifer calf and continues on through her second pregnancy and calving. Replacement costs were estimated from research conducted in Nebraska for spring-calving cowherds and included the opportunity cost of the heifer calf. The analysis, based on research data, showed that heifer development programs targeted to 50 to 55% of mature BW (MBW) at first breeding can be successful, challenging the traditional target of 65% of MBW at first breeding. The lower BW programs achieved …