Reducing cow numbers is a fundamental strategy in many producers drought management plans. People talk about getting down to their core breeders, but what makes a cow part of the core breeding group?
In an ideal world, I reckon every cow in your herd should be considered a core breeder! However not all cows in a herd are the same, and not all of the cows you own will have the traits or production qualities you should seek to retain.
So where do you start? I reckon the first selection process is to identify the cows which are not in calf.
Preg testing your cows, particularly in drought at least allows you to identify animals which need to go.
Preg testing shouldn't be just about identifying the non pregnant females. Yes its a good start in identifying the first to go. But if you are looking to identify a core group of females to keep, you should use your preg test results to inform that selection.
With preg testing you should seek to identify the early, mid and late pregnant females. Early pregnant females are most likely the more fertile females and this is a trait producers should select for.
Ultra sound preg testing is a very efficient way of identifying pregnancy and the stage of pregnancy. The producers I have worked with have been able to start making some plans around the fertility levels in their herds.
While pregnancy status is vital to identifying productive females, its not the only thing to consider in your search for a core breeder!
In each cows history, how maternal has she actually been? Has she successfully raised a calf each year? How heavy have those calves been at weaning? Fertility is one thing, but its only completed if the cow can raise the calf through to weaning.
Fertility and maternal traits are key attributes of a core breeding female. However there are other characteristics which producers should include as they choose which females to retain.
What maturity pattern have you identified as the optimum for your environment? Are there cows which are too early or too late maturing? If they don't fall into the optimum then they might not be as close to the core group as other cows.
What are the production traits of the females you are assessing? Which have the better growth traits, the best muscularity, and which are the more structurally sound animals? These are traits which are ideal to retain in a herd and can ad to a profitable enterprise as you rebuild after the drought.
How old are your cows? If they are towards the end of their productive life, they may not be essential as core breeders? What traits do they have in regards to health status?
Finally what are the other important traits to you? I reckon you can never underestimate traits such as temperament!
We know temperament is highly heritable, and has a major influence on eating quality as well as your safety in the yards!
Are there any other traits you need to retain in your herd? If there are, then ask yourself are these specific only to your herd, or can you replace those traits with other cows later on.
You have to be honest with yourself! If you have average maturity cows with average muscle scores, average growth and are just cows, then you can be pretty confident you can replace those with similar or better cows down the track.
If it is coming down to choosing cows to retain as core breeders, then any cows which fail to meet any of these traits shouldn't be considered as core breeders.
In a drought such as this, the core breeding herd should be the most fertile, productive cows with the best structure, temperament, age, maturity pattern and productive traits which will allow you to plan a rebuilding program around.