How Can I Make Money with Beef-on-Dairy?
With drought and production costs pushing the native beef population to a record low, beef-on-dairy has a huge opportunity to keep the feedlots and processors at full capacity. This also means the demand – and prices – for beef calves are at a high. Lauren Kimble, manager of ProfitSOURCE and LCT Supply Chains with Select Sires, offers five tips on how producers can capitalize on these prices.
- Know Your Buyer
Building a relationship with your calf buyer is a great way to gain visibility and make some noise for your high-quality beef-on-dairy calves. Get to know them – where are these calves headed? What does that system want? Use beef genetics that not only allow for easy calving, but also address the specific beef supply chain needs.
- Calf Care
One of the perks of beef-on-dairy is that the calves are born in controlled environments – and we know that dairy producers are experts at rearing newborns. Colostrum management at birth is vital as these calves, unlike native beef calves, undergo serious change within the first few weeks of life, adjusting to the stresses of transport and new home(s).
- Trace It
Offering some level of traceability demonstrates the added value of both your genetics and calf care by making it possible to validate lifetime performance. While calf prices are high at the moment, the beef-on-dairy market is rapidly evolving – and many buyers feel that a high quality, traceable ‘program’-type calf will become the norm, with everything else being discounted.
- Advanced Repro Technologies
Got repro success? Using sexed male semen or even transferring full beef embryos into your lower genetic merit females are both opportunities to capture value – especially if your market is discounting heifer calves, or your Jersey crossbreds are not worth as much as they once were.
- Different Marketing Streams
If you’re able to retain and raise your calves to a higher weight, marketing direct-to-feedlot can maximize on all the above tips.
Advice from a Calf Ranch
Amanda Arata, general manager with Kansas Dairy Development (KDD) in southwest Kan., oversees more than 65,000 heifers in a custom facility. She says the following is vital for the calf—whether it is a dairy or beef cross to make a good start before it is transported to the calf ranch.
- The calf is born in a clean calving area.
- The calf receives high-quality colostrum.
- A solid vaccination program was used on the dam.
- Ensure the calf is warm and dry.
- Make sure it has had several feedings in it before being transported.
With beef calf prices hot, it’s time to not only capitalize on them now, but set yourself up for success in the future.