Steve Eicker has some perspective on the dairy industry he likes to focus on during presentations to producers, veterinarians and nutritionists. It likely flies in the face of what they might hear from some other dairy industry experts today. Still, Eicker puts it out there.
“I think dairy farmers are keeping their older cows too long,” says Eicker, DVM and co-founder of Valley Agricultural Software (VAS). “Guess how much milk the oldest cows are producing, the ones that should have been put on the truck a few months ago? They’re lowering the herd average.”
That perspective is counter to a recent development that’s impacting heifer retention and potentially slowing herd turnover in the U.S. The general public and some dairy industry experts believe that keeping aging cows in the milk herd — cow longevity — is a positive. According to Eicker, that’s rarely the case.
In his opinion, dairy producers who want to improve their farm’s sustainability for the long term need to focus more on increasing milk production by bringing replacement heifers into the herd sooner rather than later.
“What happens when a new heifer enters the herd? You have the luxury of finding the least profitable cow, the least healthy cow, and replacing her,” Eicker told a group of dairy nutritionists attending a recent meeting sponsored by Novus International.
His perspective is older animals need to be replaced by heifers sporting better genetics and, therefore, higher milk production along with improved salvage income potential.
Lifeblood Of The Farm
Dairy producers are replacing cows sooner today than in the past. In 2005, producers replaced about 30% of their milking herd per year. Today, Eicker says the cull rate (a term he dislikes) is about 40% annually, meaning the average longevity of milking cows in the U.S. is about two-and-a-half years.
But Eicker is concerned U.S. dairy producers won’t continue replacing their cowherds at that rate.
One reason is the upfront costs for raising replacement heifers have skyrocketed. Such costs average about 20% of overall operating costs for a dairy, and are the third-largest expense after feed and labor.
The University of Minnesota FINBIN database shows the average cost to raise a heifer in 2022 was over $2,100. But the raising cost can be unintentionally misleading and is not the same as replacement cost, according to Eicker.
“The replacement cost is the difference between the raising cost and the salvage cost,” he explains.
Eicker believes producers are better off financially when they retain enough heifers to replace the cows that leave the farm — if the long-term goal is to stay in business.
“I saw someone pay over $3,000 for a springer last week (in late May),” he told the group of nutritionists. “And why did they do that? Because it was worth it to them. Because guess what they didn’t have? Enough heifers.”
Market Cows Sooner
Eicker contends that while disease prevention and treatment, outstanding nutrition, and good animal welfare practices are “great for individual cows,” those practices don’t support herd longevity.
“Cow longevity is not good for profitability. It’s not good for the environment, and it’s terrible for animal welfare,” he says.
To clarify, Eicker cares about cow welfare and cow health. His point is that older cows tend to have more mastitis and other health issues, such as lameness, all of which are bad for public perception and animal welfare. Such diseases require more of a farm’s financial resources, manpower and time to treat.
Furthermore, older cows don’t necessarily give more milk, Eicker points out.
“It turns out replacing first-lactation animals that aren’t very good animals can make a lot of money for the dairy,” he says. “The people that think older cows make more milk are making a statistical analysis error when they’re ignoring the animals that got ‘new jobs.’ It’s called selection bias.”
Eicker also doesn’t agree with individuals and companies that are proponents of keeping an individual cow in the herd until she covers her raising costs. That could take years, if her milk production is low.
“I want to replace cows based on their milk production and profitability,” he says. “We want healthy, productive cows on the farm, and, as it turns out, there’s good money to be made marketing less productive cows sooner.
“We need to stop keeping cows until there’s a problem,” he adds. “I never want to see a blown hock. I don’t want to see a down cow.”
Evaluate The Data
Younger dairy cows in good condition have the potential to garner top dollar at market because they typically grade well and have good carcass values. Eicker wants producers to collect and evaluate their sale data, to determine that for themselves. He encourages nutritionists and veterinarians to help in the process.
“Every time you sell a cow, get the grade, weight and total dollars,” Eicker recommends. “If you realize over time, ‘Oh, when I sell a second-lactation animal that’s 150 days in milk, I get $2,400. And when I sell a lousy animal, I get $1,200.’ Guess what you’re going to want then? More replacement heifers, because you should not sell a cow without having a heifer to replace her.”
At this juncture in Eicker’s presentation at the Novus meeting, one of the nutritionists in the audience pipes up and says, “Not everyone is good at raising heifers.”
Eicker agrees. “I think there’s room for improvement for heifer growing,” he says. (Another nutritionist in the crowd says “for sure.”)
But Eicker stays on point.
“Why raise heifers at all? For replacements, for the future of the farm,” he says. “Herd longevity is dependent on heifer replacement rate. Period.”
Not A Fan
A trend Eicker is not a proponent of is the recent beef-on-dairy boon. He says it’s counterproductive for producers who want their dairy operations to be viable long-term.
“The excessive beef-on-dairy thing is dangerous,” he says. “Every time a beef calf is born instead of a replacement heifer that means a terminal cow cannot be replaced and she needs to be kept in the herd longer than desired.”
The flip side is beef-on-dairy can give producers more dollars sooner to meet their cash-flow needs. According to research by Dale Woerner at Texas Tech University, beef-dairy crossed calves are 30% more efficient at converting feed to beef than Holstein steers, and are on feed a fewer number of days.
(In full disclosure, Bovine Veterinarian and Dairy Herd Management, both of which are Farm Journal-owned publications, have published a number of positive articles regarding beef-on-dairy.)
Eicker’s focus remains on how beef-on-dairy can result in fewer replacement heifers and, therefore, reduce long-term farm profitability.
He shares some calculations.
“A Holstein heifer calf is probably worth about $400, and a beef-on-dairy calf is $600, or close to that, so the producer gets about $200 more for the latter right now,” he says. “But how much would that Holstein heifer be worth in three years? More like $800,” he contends. “What else can double your money like that in three years?”
Value Of Genomics
Eicker says producers who raise their own replacement heifers have more options to create a better future — a more sustainable one — for their dairy operation.
“I think you can look at different things and make better decisions,” he says. “You can look at genetics, you can evaluate milk yield.”
Genetic improvements are occurring at ever faster rates, thanks to the use of genomics. While the U.S. dairy herd today is just 1% larger than in 2008, it produces 19.2% more pounds of milk and 32.2% more pounds of butterfat, according to a 2024 CoBank report by Corey Geiger, CoBank lead economist for dairy production.
Even producers who don’t genomic test their stock are still able to benefit from improved genetics, Eicker notes, thanks to better sires.
“That means our younger animals that come into the dairy herd are more valuable than ever,” he says.
“Cows that produce more milk and meat and use less resources in the process are the path to sustainability,” he adds. “That’s good for the planet and good for the farmer.”
