What about you? What is the age of your cows? Are you planning to expand this year? You can vote in the poll here.īe sure to vote and leave your comments in the comments section after voting, or share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section of this blog. ANY calf will make money in this market!” I will give a little more grace this year to heifers that lose their calves for no fault of their own, as well cows that wean poorer calves. “I will continue to cull cows at age 12, as well as dry cows, lame cows, those with bad udders, and heifers that don’t breed quickly. “I culled a lot of open and older cows during the drought of 2012.” I wish I had them back now that we have had rain.” “I kept the young cows, but I sold a lot of good older ones. Here’s what a few had to say in the comments section: The study described examined the effects of animal age at slaughter, breed crosses, hormonal growth implants, and RAC feed supplementation on the shear force. With 86 votes so far, 52% of you say your cows are 6-8 years old, 37% say 3-5 years old, and 10% have an average age of 9+ years in the herd. This week’s poll on the homepage asks, “What is the average age of the beef cows in your herd? longissimus dorsi, LDA, and semimembranosus. We’ve found that once we can get our cows beyond the first couple of years, where a big bull calf can keep a cow from breeding back as quickly as she should, we can usually keep a cow around for the long haul. Animal age effects on the mechanical properties of cooked samples from muscles able to cold shorten (Mm. All beef cattle eat grass for at least the first half of their lives. Our cows typically average between 8-12 years old, with many of our cows that produce high-quality calves remaining in our herd until age 16 or 17. The beginning stage of life for both grass-finished and grain-finished cattle is the same for the first 8-10 months of the animal’s life. READ: 9 Things To Consider Before Culling A Cow Additionally, being purebred breeders, we have more invested in the genetics, so we tend to be more lenient of a cow with a really strong pedigree that falls behind in her breeding cycle. It is steers that are slaughtered for beef, the grade depends on their condition and finishing, and typically at 18 months.

This was a deviation from our customary culling process, which is to select older cows, poorer-producing cows and those with poor udders or dispositions to send to market. Subscribe now to Cow-Calf Weekly to get the latest industry research and information in your inbox every Friday!

Beef animal age