Retaining the wrong heifers
A laundry list of suggestions to help you avoid one simple phrase: She’s open.
By Patrick Wall
For the first time, maybe ever, the U.S. beef industry is struggling to expand when every price indicator says that it should. In fact, the USDA-NASS Cattle Inventory Report for July 1, 2025, indicated we haven’t even hit bottom yet. There will be plenty of articles detailing why this is occurring, and even more forecasting what will or should happen next.
This article will focus on what needs to happen within your fences, regardless of the market. One thing is certain; the world consumer is telling the U.S. beef producer that as long as it tastes good and you raised it humanely; we’ll pay you for it!
The worst thing the beef industry could do is shatter that consumer trust. The fastest way to do it would be by retaining the cheapest, lowest quality heifers we can find. The temptation is real; feedlots are bidding hard for heifers they know will feed and grade. Truth be told, they’re bidding more than they ever have for heifers where they know absolutely nothing about (performance, efficiency, carcass quality, etc.). All said, the cow-calf sector is in a quandary of aging producers enjoying the ride, middle-aged producers healing up debt and replacing infrastructure, and a group of start-ups facing record prices and high interest rates.
Retaining the ‘right’ heifers is critical to the financial longevity of the latter two groups mentioned above. So how do they do it? Homework. I’m sure many readers will immediately think that means feed budgets, price projections and meetings with a banker. All that is likely true, but this exam is far more complex than that. Sitting at a local sale barn with a ceiling bid in mind is only part of it. In fact, the heifers you need to be successful might not be there…or at the next sale.
Step 1 – Know their age. ‘Spring’ is not an age, it’s a season. In the cattle business, spring seems to start in January and end about June 1. Heifers that align with your desired breeding date are far more desirable than high performing, younger females. Research shows that older heifers that breed up early are more likely to still be in the herd past age 6 – the profitable years of a cow’s life.
Step 2 – Let the first cut go. Whether you’re retaining from within or buying a group, it is natural to gravitate towards the largest ones in the pen. The downfall of continual selection for only weight can lead to a mature cow size that exceeds your feed resources. Sure, weight pays, but in an environmental challenge, more moderate cows will win.
Again, knowing the date of birth can help you select for performance and keep cow size in check. Historic industry reports indicate there’s room for improvement here since slaughter cow weights have risen significantly over the last 50 years (+30%) but weaning weights haven’t followed suit.
Step 3 – Age of dam.Regardless of the gavel price for her calf, the reproductive efficiency of a cow has always been the economic driver for success or failure of a cow-calf enterprise. There is no better example of reproductive efficiency than a bred cow past the age of 6 standing on your farm/ranch. She has endured every challenge Mother Nature and poor management decisions has thrown at her…and she’s done it on your grass, your feed, your labor, etc. Daughters of these cows should climb up the list of potential keepers.
Don’t forget that bull selection is the other 50% of this equation, genetically. Keep your thumb on genetic tools for longevity like stayability, sustained cow fertility, $Cow, $M, the list goes on.
There were two things I mentioned a bit earlier that could be a huge advantage to every other producer with the same idea: homework, and a group of aging producers enjoying the ride. Many successful cattlemen nearing retirement have decided to just ride the price wave and not expand.
Call them. Visit them. Ask them if their ‘middle cut’ of heifers might be for sale privately. Chances are, the producer can tell you which heifers would make the best replacements based on the same criteria listed above. The feedyards you would be bidding against don’t care about your selection criteria, and in many cases, the aging producer would love to see his/her cattle thrive for their neighbor!
As the title implies, you might be wondering, “what’s the wrong heifer look like?” The previous seven paragraphs have essentially been a laundry list of suggestions to help you avoid one simple phrase: she’s open. The dollar outlay for heifer calves and bred females has never been greater, which means the financial risk associated with herd expansion has also never been greater. However, the importance of cow fertility and longevity remains the same.
Better yet, feed and hay resources are more plentiful and less expensive than previous periods of the cattle cycle when herd expansion was warranted. Cattle producers are inherently an optimistic bunch…and there’s lots of optimism in the beef cattle market!
Wall is an Iowa State University Extension Beef Field Specialist.
