Matt Poore, NC State Extension, Amazing Grazing Program
Becky Spearman, Cooperative Extension, Bladen County
North Carolina Cooperative Extension
Note: This article first appeared in the May, 2026 Carolina Cattle Connection and is reprinted here with permission.
Deciding which cows to cull can be a difficult and emotional decision, but it must be done as a normal part of a good beef cattle management system. Beef cow profits are tied directly to the number and pounds of calves sold. Culling management is very important in ensuring that each cow on your farm has a high chance of producing a good calf with a high market value. The goal of a beef operation is for each cow to have a high quality calf every year. Cows not meeting that goal are not making you money but rather are costing you money to feed and manage.
As total input costs increase, beef producers must make good decisions on culling to improve their efficiency. During times of drought and high feed costs, culling becomes an even higher priority because it can help you target your resources into higher value animals and prevent you from wasting resources on feeding unproductive animals.
To have a good culling program it is important to have records on your cattle. Some common information would be cow identification number, cow age, calving dates, calf information including weaning weights, and other observations you make about a cow (i.e. “wild in the working chute”, or “mean when you approach her calf”). Your records can be as simple as a written record on a cow note card created for that purpose, a simple computer spreadsheet or a more advanced computer record system.
Regardless of how you keep track of your records, you will want to keep the information from year to year organized to help you prioritize which animals to cull. More advanced computer record keeping programs are available for maintaining cow herd records and are highly recommended. Consult with your Cooperative Extension Livestock Agent for help in developing or improving your cow identification and record keeping program. Having your cow records on your smart phone is a game changer!
One very important thing to consider is how many cows you want to maintain on your farm. Determining the ideal number of brood cows for your farm, or the correct “stocking rate” will help you decide how many cows you need to cull each year to maintain that ideal number. One thing to keep in mind here is that stocking rate should actually be thought of in lbs rather than cows, because as cows increase in size the same piece of ground can support fewer cows.
During times of drought you may need to cull down to fewer than that average ideal.
An optimally stocked farm should be grazing for about 240-300 days with about 60-120 days of winter hay feeding. If you are consistently feeding hay longer than that you are probably considerably overstocked. Decreasing stocking rate or improving your grazing management can turn a 120-day hay feeding season into a 60-day hay feeding season which will improve your farm efficiency.
The first step in the strategic culling process is working the cows and assigning them to a culling priority group so that culling can be an organized process. When working cattle, make sure you look closely at the cow’s eyes, feet, teeth, and udder and record any defects you find. Haltering the cow or using a “hook doctor” will help you inspect her teeth with a low risk of injury to you. If you have never “mouthed” your cows, it is a key management tool every cow/calf producer should be skilled at.
If you are unfamiliar with aging cattle by their teeth look at one of the many guides there are on the web. Keeping up with these kinds of details on your animals will prove beneficial even in times when there is no drought stress on your system.
A culling priority grouping system of 1 to 4 is suggested.
- Cows that you are not going to sell no matter what. These are likely young productive cows that have good feet, legs, udders and disposition. Bred replacement heifers would usually be in this group. Over ½ your herd may be in this category.
- Cows with a score of 2 have some minor defect such as being older in age, having minor tooth problems, minor foot or udder problems, or somewhat ill in their disposition. These cows have potentially high value because there is demand for middle age bred cows.
- Cows with a score of 3 have more significant defects like advancing age, wearing or broken teeth, lameness or bad disposition. Some of these cows are bred and sound, and their calf will be valuable at weaning, so they may be more valuable marketed as bred cows on a case by case basis.
- Cows with a score of 4 would be culled immediately, and would normally be culled in any year. This group would include all open cows and any cows with major defects.
Following are criteria that should be considered as you make a culling priority list:
- Pregnancy status – Pregnancy check all cows. The three main ways to pregnancy check are rectal palpation, ultrasound, or blood tests. Cow that will not raise calves are not going to make you money and should be on the top of the cull list. This would include any replacement heifers that are not pregnant, but that have been exposed to a bull and had the opportunity to breed. These animals would be in group 4 and should be culled immediately.
- Major defects – Major defects would include very bad temperament, chronic lameness, eye problems (early signs of cancer eye), or severe udder problems. These cows should also be in group 4 and should be culled as soon as possible.
- Age – Inspect the teeth of cows so that you know the number of effective years each cow has left. Cows with broken or badly worn teeth should be high on the culling list with a score of 4. If their teeth are somewhat worn indicating they are getting old, but they have a few years left in the herd they should get a score of 3. Cows with early signs of tooth wear (middle age cows) should receive a score of 2.
- Feet and legs – To be productive the cow must be able to walk. Foot structure is currently a problem in most cattle because of selection for many production traits without much concern about feet. Look at the angle of the foot and the claw structure. Is the foot angle overly steep so that the cow’s heel nearly hits the ground when she walks, or is the angle too shallow so that she is walking on her tippy toes? Are the claws normal shaped, or are they curved or uneven. Is the set of the claws wide or do they point forward normally. Are there any corns or other obvious defects. How well does the cow walk? A cow with some minor foot issues goes in group 2 with structural problems going in group 3. Cows with severe structural problems or chronic lameness should go in group 4.
- Poor production – Consider culling cows that produce calves with very low weaning weights. These cows may calve every year, but their calves are small enough to where they are probably not making you much money. Cows with extremely light weaning weights should be in group 3. Cows with less than average weaning weights (but not extremely low) should be in group 2.
- Late calving cows – For farms with a defined calving season, consider selling any cows that will calve late or out of your calving season. These cows have a higher likelihood of coming up open, or producing a lightweight calf. These cows might end up with a high priority for culling due to low weaning weight, but even if they do produce a pretty good calf they still should be considered for culling when you are culling deep. Pregnant cows in this category would be marketed differently than open, defective, or old cows. These cows may be out of line with your calving season, but they might work for someone else. They would typically be in group 2 or 3 depending on quality.
- Poor doers – These are the cows that are always thin no matter what you do. They might get a high culling priority due to weaning a poor calf, or they might be old cows with short teeth. Even if they don’t end up with a high culling priority due to one of the criteria discussed above, they should be considered for culling during a drought year because there is a higher chance that they might not breed back, or that they might have underlying health issues that would come out during times of stress. These cows would be in group 2 or 3.
- Extremes – A deep culling due to drought might be a good time to consider selling any cows that are extremes in terms of frame size or muscling in your herd. These may be very small or very large cows that produce calves that are not uniform with the rest of your calf crop, or perhaps dairy-cross, or off color cows. Anything you can do to increase the uniformity of your herd will help you with future marketing plans. These cows would be generally be in group 2 or 3.
Once a preliminary score has been put on the cow at chuteside, spend additional time studying records to determine a final culling group for each cow. During drought situations, producers must make difficult decisions about culling and will usually cull some cows that they would normally keep. Making an informed decision will make you feel better about having to sell those cows when you need to.
Depending on the severity of the drought and your feed situation, you can use your culling priority list to sell cows in an orderly fashion. Having a score on paper will help make the culling decision without the emotional constraints that can happen at chute side or at the door to the livestock trailer.
Sell the number 4 cows as soon as possible after weaning calves. Consider early weaning calves and then culling the cows earlier than typical. If the drought is severe or feed is very short sell the number 3s. If the drought continues and feed is expensive sell your number 2s. The cows in group 2 may be marketed most effectively through private treaty or a special bred cow sale.
Instead of being depressed about selling off productive cows to deal with a drought you should think of a deep culling as an opportunity to improve your herd, and you can generate funds to help you feed the core of your genetic resource. Culling early will relieve the demands on the pasture, improving conditions for all the other cattle that remain. With high cattle prices, selling early will really help the farm to feed the remaining cows. When you cull in response to drought, regardless of how you decide to market the cows, make sure you do it before they lose body condition and a lot of their potential value.
Nearly every producer will do some extra culling as part of their drought management plan. As you make these difficult culling decisions it is important that you get the best price for your cows. Carrying your cows to the sale barn without talking to a marketing specialist is probably not the best approach, especially for young and middle-aged cows that are bred or that have a calf at side.
Culling strategies based on sound facts and decision making will benefit your farm in the long run. Gathering information on the cows and then deciding which to sell and which to keep is a key tool in drought management. Keeping young and productive cows and selling old or defective cows will allow you to grow back into a greatly improved herd once the drought is over.
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