Now why should any beef producer care how high dairy breed replacement heifers are selling? Because the beef cull market (for “spent” cows) establishes the floor value for both dairy AND beef replacement cows. When dairy cows are at their highest-ever prices in history, you will know that cull prices are also at or near peak prices, helping to subsidize the purchases, so the beef cow replacement prices will not be far behind dairy cows.
Record high deacon calf prices (bulls AND heifers) FIRST reflect flat prices for all major feed commodities (hay, haylage, corn, corn silage, soybeans) as feedlot operators are still willing to buy light feeders at good prices; so many calf feeders feel confident they can recover the calf prices and continue to pay $1000 for Holstein (dairy) bull calves and a hefty premium for any beef cross calf (most of which are currently born from lower-valued or slower breeding dairy cows).
It has been said before: we have 50% more people than there were in 1962, but 25% fewer beef momma cows than 1962. Prices for retail beef finally responded to this during the Covid pandemic, and have not fallen back since then. Even cattlemen who used to lose money raising calves to sell as feeders (unless they had cattle that could do it on grass alone) now can make enough profit to stay in business. However, the replacement female supply is not very large, as market prices divert many to feedlots… thus regrowth of the national cow herd will be a slow one (especially if we continue to have blizzard winters, drought summers, and forest fires out west where the cheapest rangeland sits).
Good herd fertility genetics and reproduction management is the cheapest strategy for you if you wish to grow your cow-calf herd. The dairy industry struggles with this thanks to decades of genetic focus more on fast maturity of production and less on reproductive ability. If you follow advice from people like Dr Allan Williams, you will breed for longevity in your cows.
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