Addressing factors contributing to pregnancy loss, such as stress, nutrition and herd health, can create the best opportunity for pregnancy survival.

With feeder calf prices at record highs and USDA predictions for prices to remain at or above $3 per hundredweight (cwt) into 2027, it’s an exciting time to be in the cow-calf business.

While statistically, most mature bulls, year in and year out, are going to be satisfactory breeders, if you're on the wrong side of those numbers and you bet wrong on that gamble, it can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

The October podcast goes to Denver, Colorado, for the Red Angus annual conference where David Cooper interviews Rick Funston and Jordan Shockley. Funston, a reproductive physiologist with University of Nebraska – Lincoln, explains numerous factors toward efficiency in repro rates, heifer selection and reproductive success. 

The verdict is in – an open cow is among the top three financial liabilities for cow-calf operators. Calf sales are the largest contributor to annual income; cows that fail to wean a calf are a financial burden borne by the productive cows.

Today, DPR is not the only resource to gauge reproductive success of efficiency in a herd. Cow Conception Rate (CCR) was introduced in 2010 as a tool to analyze fertility.

In cow-calf operations, reproductive rate is the foundational productive function of the enterprise. Obviously, if cows do not become pregnant, then no calves are produced for revenue generation the following year.

Most beef producers who routinely test cows and heifers confirm pregnancies when their calves are either weaned or preconditioned in late summer. However, experts recommend checking for pregnancy much sooner, especially during a dry spell.

Fall calving continues to increase in the U.S. Approximately 30% of the herds in the U.S. are calving in the fall. Depending on where you are in the country, calving could start in late August, mid-October or anywhere in between.