Cattle Feeders Have Spoken: Health is No. 1
Industry Insights survey says health is the first key to profit potential in the feedyard.
March 1, 2024
Cattle feeders have a sharp pencil to value feeder calves according to potential to generate profit in their operations. They consider many factors, from condition to genetic potential; but one tends to trump all others: health.
“As we talk about their challenges to profitability, cattle health has been No. 1 on their list for a long time. It’s going to continue to be No. 1,” says Mark McCully, CEO of the American Angus Association. “As we think about long-term research and development and being able to develop some genetic prediction tools around health and disease resistance, the cattle feeder definitely tells us that that’s really important for their long-range success.”
When asked to rank factors that pose the greatest challenge to profitability from least to most on a 1-to-5 scale, 76% of feeders ranked health either a 4 or a 5. That’s according to Industry Insights powered by Angus Media and CattleFax, a report that shares results from a survey of cattle feeders across the United States, representing around 3.3 million head of feeding capacity.
“Health is a big factor on how cattle end up performing,” says Shawn Walter, CattleFax analyst, noting that everything from feed intake to final carcass quality can take a hit when cattle get sick. “How those cattle actually perform health-wise when they get to the feedyard is just a big factor in the overall profitability.”
Feed conversion ranked high (also at 76% rating it 4 and 5), followed by carcass traits such as dressing percentage, quality grade and carcass weight. But did that translate to their purchasing decisions?
In short, yes. The survey asked feeders what they considered “highly valuable” when purchasing calves (see Table 1). “Three traits rise to the top — vaccination history, weaning history and breed makeup,” said the report.
Asked another way, 92% said that “vaccination according to a protocol” and “current health condition” were major purchase incentives, followed closely by “preconditioned” at 89% and “weaned” at 87% (see Table 2).
Smart purchases curb expenses
Feeders can use those bits of information to predict probable health throughout the feeding period. Those traits are worth more because they’re an insurance of sorts against racking up expenses in the yard.
“Drugs are higher and more expensive than ever. Treatment costs are running about twice what they were three years ago, and not because of more treatments. It’s just because of the cost,” Walter explains.
Yet pulling, treating and getting one to recover is even more crucial than ever with today’s markets.
“When you get one death loss on calves that are [as] expensive as these cattle are, that affects your bottom line that much more,” he notes.
Industry experts say that morbidity and mortality rates have increased in the feeding phase in recent years, even as ranch-level preparedness has increased.
On a recent episode of The Angus Conversation, well-known feedlot consulting veterinarian Kee Jim recalls his early years in the industry and how health has changed since the early 1980s.
“When I first started, the big challenge was weaning calves and bringing them directly in the feedlot,” he says. “I can honestly say we made a lot of progress around that particular piece.”
Over time, mortality rates improved from above 10% down to 5%-8%.
“With data collection and the utilization of vaccines and antibiotics, we were able to make progress from something not bearable to something that was reasonable to work with,” he says.
As a founding partner in Feedlot Health Management Services, Jim has tracked those numbers for decades and knows they’re trending back up, but he says it’s important not to make broad generalizations that health is getting worse across the board.
“The challenges we’re facing may not be related to disease, but may be related to increased metabolic challenges,” he says. “We’re feeding cattle a lot harder than we ever did.”
That points to opportunities for improvements in the future.
“I think long-term projects that are now possible with improved genomics and tools … other species have been able to improve disease resistance, and they’ve been able to improve survivability,” Jim says. “It should be on our radar of trying to get at that piece genetically.”
In the near-term, the Industry Insights survey asked what feeders would like to change most about feeder-cattle procurement using the same 1-to-5 rating, and 84% ranked “improved vaccination programs” as important (see Fig. 1).
“The drum beat of health, followed by validation for carcass and performance genetics, breed descriptions and the need for uniformity are their primary considerations,” the report confirmed.
Treatment cost are up, not because of increased treatments, but because of increased cost of treatment, Shawn Walter says.
Improving disease resistance and survivability genetically should be on the industry’s radar, Kee Jim says.
Table 1: What do you consider “highly valuable” when purchasing feeder calves?
Table 2: Percent rating factor a 4 or 5 when asked, “When you bid on calves, how are these factors likely to affect your purchase decisions (1=strongly detract; 5=strongly attract)?”
Fig. 1: What would you like to see changed in feeder-cattle procurement in the future? (Rate 1 to 5, with 1 being least important to change and 5 being the most important.)
Better cattle, better for the cowboys
Health ranks high, not only because there are economic considerations, but also workload implications on an already strapped feedyard staff. When asked what their greatest challenge was, feeders ranked labor as second only to input costs.
“Labor is such a factor in the feedyards. Almost every feedyard’s hospital crew and pen rider crew are understaffed,” Walter says. They’re especially strung thin during times of peak placements, so incoming fall calves may be under pressure to be less of a drain on human resources, he says.
“Health history probably would matter more buying in the fall, that’s when you get so many cattle coming in,” Walter notes. “If you could avoid a problem as much as possible with some health history, buying some known origins of cattle, during those times, it would be more concentrated then.”
Having to pull cattle slows a crew down, but it also makes work feel heavy at times.
“I’ve done that job before, and when you’re pulling cattle and they’re dying, it’s tough,” Walter says. “It’s emotionally hard. We’re all tough cowboys. But at the same time, it bothers you.”
Preparing the calves at home
Cattlemen can set their calves up for the best handoff to the next phase in the production chain by enlisting the help of experts.
“They can work with their veterinarian on a good, complete health vaccination program and with plenty of days in a weaning program,” Walter says. “Thirty days is just enough to cause a wreck.”
He suggests at least 60 days, or send them straight off the cow.
“Having a good nutrition and mineral program on those cattle, too, goes a long way when they get to the feedyard. If they’re eating [well], they’re going to be healthier,” Walter says.
Conveying all that information through to the next owner can be a challenge, he notes. Calves often stop at a grow yard or backgrounder, where they’re split and commingled, making data hard to pass on when they’re in a group setting.
Health first, genetics next
Right behind health, genetics came in as the next most important piece of information for cattle feeders trying to pencil in a profit.
“So much of the weekly buy into yards is buying a breakeven at best. If the cattle grid well, they’ll make you a profit. The genetics are still a big factor,” Walter says.
Nearly 60% of respondents said genetics play a bigger role in the purchase decision today, and that they will continue to grow in importance.
“One of the really, really prevailing messages we heard very prominently was that feeders want Angus genetics. They want documented Angus genetics,” McCully says. “They’re trying to differentiate those cattle from the sea of black-hided feeder cattle in some places.”
Health rules the purchase decisions, but potential for gain and grade are coming up fast in that second-place spot.
“We heard from cattle feeders that genetics are more important than they’ve ever been,” McCully notes. “They’re paying more attention today, and are going to be paying much more attention down the road.”
It seems no matter who is holding the pencil, health and genetics are big parts of the profit equation.
Topics: Health , Management , Feedyard , Industry News , News , Industry Insights
Publication: Angus Beef Bulletin
Issue: March 2024
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