Do Big Cows Bring Big Proftis? Public Grazing Fee Policy’s Impact on Cow Size

Determining the optimum mature cow weight or cow size is a complex problem faced by producers. While larger cows wean larger calves than smaller cows, the smaller cow weans a larger percentage of her body weight (Dhuyvetter, 2009). In addition, while the smaller cow has a reduced feed efficiency, the larger cow requires more nutrients for maintenance (Hersom, 2009). Further, smaller cull cows bring less money per head on sale day than larger cows. Given a set of fixed resources, a greater number of smaller cows can be maintained relative to a smaller number of larger cows (Mathis and Sawyer, 2000).