I have had the opportunity to speak to multiple producer groups during the past year. One of the areas I focus on discussing is the fact that pregnancy is four to six times more valuable than any production trait that we select for. 

Quite simply, failing to get a female pregnant costs more than the value of any other trait. Producers need cows to become pregnant, deliver healthy calves and wean productive calves to make their operations economically viable. The failure of breeding females to become pregnant directly affects the economic viability of every beef operation. 

Infertile beef cows and heifers can fall into three primary groups: 1) cows that fail to become pregnant during the breeding season (a typical breeding season may be between 60–120 days); 2) cows that become pregnant but fail to calve; and 3) cows that become pregnant late in the breeding season. 

Infertility that leads to the failure of a cow or heifer to calve during the subsequent calving season results in the single largest economic loss to beef producers. No economic return will be realized from those cows for at least one additional year (unless producers have multiple breeding seasons or a split breeding season). Cows that fail to become pregnant during the breeding season do not give producers an opportunity to market a calf, becoming an economic liability to beef production systems.

Beef females fail to become pregnant for numerous reasons, such as anestrous/prepuberty (cows and heifers that do not start their estrous cycles during the breeding season), disease or sub-optimal management. In addition, cows may also become pregnant but fail to calve because they lose their pregnancy at some stage of gestation because of a disease or traumatic event. 

Either way, the economic impacts of cows failing to calve is profound. Less than 40% of all U.S. beef producers use pregnancy detection as a management method to determine if cows are pregnant and use the tool to make culling decisions. 

Pregnancy detection usually occurs about 30–90 days after the end of the breeding season. Pregnancy diagnosis affords producers an opportunity to cull cows that are not pregnant. However, in an effort to maintain a steady population of brood cows, removing these cows from the herd may reduce a producer’s flexibility to cull other cows that may fail to produce thrifty calves or that should otherwise be culled for more legitimate production characteristics such as poor genetics, temperament, structural concerns and poor health. 

For the less than 60% of beef producers who fail to use pregnancy diagnosis in their operations, the first opportunity they have to determine which cows are not pregnant is after the subsequent calving season. At that point, producers may decide to either retain the cows that failed to calve or cull those cows prior to the next breeding season. 

Either way, there is a significant cost to the producer for maintaining those cows. With no calf sale, costs of supplemented feed, pasture and other expenses directly decrease lifetime profitability of open cows. 

Often overlooked or neglected facets of infertility are the cows that become pregnant but fail to calve or calve later in the calving season. When cows are diagnosed as pregnant but fail to calve or calve late, they have a negative impact on the return a producer may realize from the sale of calves. 

For instance, infertility during the early stages of the breeding season that resolve with time can manifest itself in the form of reduced calf weight.For example, calves gain between 1.5 and 2 pounds (lb.) per day while suckling their dam. A calf conceived on the first day of the calving season has the opportunity to gain 90 to 120 more pounds than a calf born 60 days into the breeding season. Reducing infertility will ensure more females calve toward the beginning of calving season and with greater chances of weaning heavier calves. With current cattle prices, this could result in significant increased revenues.

Producers can calculate the impact of fertility on their own operations by simply calculating the revenue generated by exposed cows in the herd. Using recent market report data, the following example demonstrates the cost of infertility on a typical operation. 

For example, if the current value of a 550 lb. weaned calf is $2.90 per lb., the percentage of pregnant cows is 85% and weaning weights average 550 lb. Therefore, the following calculation may be used:

1. Value of weaned calf per exposed cow if 100% cows are pregnant = 550 lb. x 100% x $2.90/lb. = $1,595 per cow
2. Value of weaned calf per exposed cow when 85% cows are pregnant = 550 lb. x 85% x $2.90/lb. = $1,355.75 per cow
3. Loss due to failure to become pregnant during the breeding season = $1,595 - $1,355.75 = $239.25 per cow

This case demonstrates infertility costs the producer $239.25 per exposed cow (or $15.95 per exposed cow for every 1% decrease in pregnancy rate). There are additional costs associated with calf mortality after calving and late calving cows that also decrease the overall revenue per exposed cow. 

Obviously, producers cannot overcome all infertility, but understanding the costs associated with infertility may ensure management decisions occur to enhance the factors responsible for improving fertility and reduce the negative influences on fertility. 

Management related factors are 1) nutritional management to ensure postpartum anestrus or prepuberty can be overcome; 2) selection of fertile animals among breeds and within breeds; 3) use of crossbreeding for hybrid vigor; 4) selection and handling of animals in ways that reduce stress; 5) use of reproductive management tools such as estrous synchronization and artificial insemination (AI) to alter the calving distribution; 6) following a stringent vaccination program to reduce the incidence of disease; and 7) use of bulls that have passed a breeding soundness exam and are capable of breeding all of the cows in a pasture or herd. 

Environmental factors are 1) heat stress that reduces conception and pregnancy rates; 2) overly extensive beef operations that limit the implementation of sound management procedures; and 3) excessive rain and mud that reduce fertility.

Perhaps small changes to beef cattle operations can reduce the overall losses to the state and the national beef industry. When extrapolated from current data, the cost of infertility to all of the producers in the United States, (with a beef cow population of 28.2 million head), likely exceeds $6.7 billion annually. 

Editor’s note: Cliff Lamb is the animal science department head and a professor at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.