Cattle - Raising Small Animals - page 469

quarantined animals to the entire herd until a month passes to be sure none of the new animals
are sick.
When to Cull
One way to improve your herd over time is to cull the underachievers so your breeding stock
will consist only of the best performers. Culling means selling animals you do not want to
raise anymore; these are animals that you do not want to use for breeding or to continue to
grow for beef or milk. Here are some criteria to consider when culling:
• Temperament : Temperament is an important factor to consider. A high-strung or nervous
animal will be high maintenance and, in the end, their meat probably will not be good
quality. Animals that are frequently stressed produce hormones, including adrenaline,
thatmaketheirmeattough.Itisnormalforanimalstobewaryofyouatfirst,butitisnot
normalforthemtotrytojumpthefenceeverytimetheyseeyou.Iftheyarethisnervous,
you must get rid of them. You do not want aggressive animals, but you also do not want
shy animals because they often get crowded out of feed or water and will not get all the
nutrition or water they need, which will keep them from growing as fast or producing as
much milk as they should.
• Fertility : If your cow shows signs of infertility or other reproductive issues, she should
be culled. If you put a cow with a healthy bull for 60 days and she is not pregnant, there
is something wrong with her. Those that breed late also can be culled. Occasionally, if a
heifer fails to breed — known as an open heifer — some farmers will keep her around
for another season just because buying a replacement would be expensive. Usually, be-
cause it is expensive to feed a heifer that may have trouble breeding the following year,
open heifers are culled.
• Prone to disease : If an animal gets sick and you cannot get it healthy, you should sell it
at an auction; it likely will be bought by a large-scale beef producer and will probably
end up as fast-food hamburger. If you cannot get rid of worms in two treatments, get rid
of the affected cow. If it has chronic eye problems, or shows early signs of cancer eye, it
should be culled.
• Performance : Calves with low weaning weights should be candidates for early sale. If a
cow'sfirstcoupleofcalves havelowweaningweights,itmightbebesttosellheratauc-
tion, too.