How to Cull Cattle

During the year you are going through with your cattle operation, keep track of how each and every cow, bull and calf does during that year. You should be able to do this using any of the following criteria: body condition and ability to gain weight with no to little supplementation, fertility rate during breeding and calving season, age, conformation, temperament and health. You may also have to cull because you have too many animals on your farm or ranch to take care of. Weaning calves from cows and selling them is one culling method. Other instances are when you have a year of drought and you are forced to get rid of up to more than half your herd to keep you from running out of feed too soon.

• Body Condition and weight gain: If a bovine in your herd is not able to gain weight efficiently on pasture alone, or gain weight after calving while nursing a calf and going into winter feeding, she should be shipped.
• Cows that come up open during preg-checking, are late calvers or late breeders should be culled. Bulls that are infertile or cannot settle all the cows he's been exposed to should be culled. Often health and nutrition are factors affecting the fertility of your cow herd, and you may have to look at that as well if a lot of your cows are coming up open.
• Some cows can be too old to calve out or even raise a calf. This is apparent when their teeth have been worn down to the gums, when they have poorer fertility than the rest of the herd, or are generally not as productive and thrifty as they used to be.
• Good conformation in cattle is necessary if you are to keep a good, high producing cow herd. Cows must have good feet and udders, maintaining the depth in their ribs and rumps, and be overall as feminine as their breeding allows. Bulls must have great feet and legs, good scrotal conformation, good depth in the ribs and rump and have good masculinity and muscling. Replacement heifers should be growthier than other calves and have good conformation like their dams if they are to be retained. Any bovine in your herd that does not meet any of the criteria mentioned in the conformation article link above, they should be culled.
• Temperament is just as crucial as fertility and conformation in your cow herd. You should not be allowing any wild or unruly cows to be kept in your herd, as they are often dangerous to you, and can even stir up an unnecessary fuss in the herd. Any cows that are crazy, not docile, overly protective or aggressive towards you, or try to run to the hills whenever you're out checking cows should be culled. Any bull that challenges you and does not respect you (often when they've come to realize they're bigger and stronger and more intimidating than you) should be shipped ASAP.
  • You may have some cattle that are just too wild to be put in the trailer. It may be more humane to put them down in the pasture and butcher them for the freezer right there. It'll save the headache and stress of forcing them to get in the trailer.
• There is a longer list for any potential health issues that will make you consider culling some cows from your herd. You may be the kind of producer that doesn't want to spend the money on vet medicine to treat a sick cow, bull or calf, and may choose to put them down instead. However, you may be the kind of producer that will try to treat a sick bovine, only to find their fertility has decreased, or they are chronically ill. Some diseases, like Johne's disease, are simply untreatable, and you will have to not only cull the cow with Johne's, but all her daughters and sons from your herd. Some animals you will find may be carriers for a genetic defect that is affecting your calf crop, and you may have to cull those as well. Mastitis in a dairy cow will often reduce her milk productivity, and she will be culled as well.
  • Any bovines that have prolapsed, have pink-eye or cancer eye, have sunburnt or frost bitten udders or testicles, or consistently have been difficult with calving, must be culled.
• Please see your local large animal veterinarian for any information on diseases you will need to keep an eye out for in your cow herd.
• Selling your year's calf crop is another form of culling, though this is really a result of your year's work of keeping the cow herd in top condition and quality. If you choose to keep your calves back for a while, remember you are doubling your herd size if you do so, and need more pasture and/or feed to keep these calves for an extra few months or even a year (if necessary). It's highly recommended, if you are primarily a cow-calf producer and not a cow-yearling producer, to sell your calves right after they've been weaned.

When deemed necessary, separate those animals that are on your cull list into a separate pen or corral from the rest of the herd using calm herding practices. The top priority animals that should be culled out of the herd sooner (if possible) are those with bad temperament issues and/or health issues. Some animals with bad health issues can be kept back particularly if you are willing and able to treat them back to health. Other animals with health issues that cannot be treated and should be culled as soon as possible. When it comes to bad temperamental issues, however, it is highly recommended that you get rid of these animals right away. If you are working alone, you will need to call someone to help you separate the bad animal from the herd, or wait until you can sell your other culls to separate that animal with the other culls.

Phone the auction barn and go load them up into a stock trailer. It's best if you separate your cattle into different groups before you haul them to the auction mart. For example, you may only have one cow with health issues, one bad tempered bull, and five cows that are too old to continue being production or bad conformation, and the rest of your culls are weaned calves you are intent on selling, but it's a good idea to load your cows and/or bulls together in one load, then your weaned calves in a separate load.

Haul them to the auction.

Back up to the stockyard entrance where you can unload your culls, then go to the office and pick up your bill. Your animals will be weighed first before you get the bill of sale, and how much your animals sell for goes according to what the current prices are for each type and size of animal.