cull rate

tismesoitis · 06-03-2011 12:19PM #1

whats the cull rate in the average suckler herd. 4th year suckling now and herd is still on the young side but want to make sure have enough replacements in 2 or 3 yrs time thanks in advance.

pakalasa · 06-03-2011 03:05PM

According to Justin McCarthry in the Farmers Journal, you should limit each cow to 5 calvings. A younger herd will greatly reduce vet bills etc.
So that's a 20% replacement rate....and that's just to cover natural replacement. It doesn't cover culling cows that are not producing goods calves etc.
To get 20%, you'll need to be bulling 40% of your cows to maternal bulls. That's a lot when you think about it. That's where using bulls that are good not just maternally but produce good weanlings too.

tismesoitis · 06-03-2011 07:15PM

that is a lot when u think about it alrite!! best bull a few more to lim so. thanks pak

pakalasa · 06-03-2011 07:26PM

tismesoitis,
Just looked at the herd report sent from ICBF as part of the suckler scheme. 4.3 is the national average calvings per cow, so 5 calvings per cow isn't that crazy at all.

cull rate

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