Suckler cows that have been scanned and are not in-calf should be marked for culling.

Some farmers who are short of grass and fodder will opt to sell these cows in the live ring, while some will opt to finish them.

Spring-calving cows that are not in-calf should be weaned early. Once the calf is around 250kg liveweight, it’s fine to wean.

Weaning now will mean the cow has a shorter finishing period and this will save money.

Delaying weaning into late autumn runs the risk of the cow losing condition and then you will have to feed concentrates to build back up again and this will erode any profit margin.

Liveweight gain

Suckler cows are capable of a daily liveweight gain of 0.75kg/day once weaned.

A continental suckler cow weaned at condition score 3 should take 50-60 days to finish while a cow weaned at condition score 2.5 could take 90 days to finish. She will also require housing.

With good-quality grass, feeding 5kg/day of rolled barley should be sufficient.

If a concentrate mix is being used at €200/t this will cost up to €1/day. Counting in grazing, the daily feed cost for the cow will be around €1.30/day.

Taking a cow beef price of €3.50/kg at a kill-out of 52%, at 0.75kg of daily liveweight gain, the cow is generating €1.40/day which will cover feed costs.

If a cow has to be housed, feed costs will rise to close to €2/day on silage and 6kg of rolled barley to continue the same weight gain with the margin uneconomical.

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