Success StoryBlood Testing Cattle for Pregnancy Diagnosis Saves Producers Bottom-Line
Blood Testing Cattle for Pregnancy Diagnosis Saves Producers Bottom-Line
Author: Michelle Simon
Planning Unit: Campbell County CES
Major Program: Beef
Plan of Work: Agriculture and Natural Resource Education - Beef and Forage Production and Marketing
Outcome: Long-Term Outcome
Campbell County agriculture largely consists of beef cattle and forage operations. In an effort to assist producers be more profitable and increase reproductive efficiency the Campbell County Extension Service has offered blood testing services for producers to test their cattle for pregnancy. The importance of pregnancy diagnosis in cattle is easily determined by the cost of production. On average, it takes approximately 10 round bales of hay per cow to carry a cow over the winter months in addition to grain. At current costs of $30 per round bale and $300 per ton of commodity feed, this equates to about $500 or more per head to feed a cow over the winter. If producers keep cows over the winter that are not bred they are automatically losing $500 plus the loss of income from a calf. The only possible income sources from beef cattle are the sale of the calf or the sale of the cow as a cull. By retaining a cow that is not bred and will not produce a calf it only costs producers until they sell her as a cull. Campbell County Extension Agent for Agriculture has conducted field days, on farm and video demonstrations teaching producers the economic importance of pregnancy diagnosis and how to collect a blood sample and processed tests through a lab service and chuteside test kits. 509 tests were conducted in 2021 and 398 in 2022. By conducting these simple tests, the Campbell County Agriculture Extension Agent saved producers a potential of $453,500 over the last 2 years by confirming the open or bred status of their cows.
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