Body Condition Scoring is an Important Component of Herd Success
By Pat Burt – Wild West District Agriculture & Natural Resources Agent
If you are not using Body Condition Scoring (BCS) for your pregnant cattle, you are missing out on a tool that can greatly impact your cow and heifer’s health, their future calf’s health, their lifelong productivity and your bottom line. BCS is a method to determine your beef cattle’s relative fatness on a score of 1 to 9 with one being thin and 9 being over-conditioned. Key areas looked at are the brisket, ribs, hooks, pins, tailhead and spine areas.
Once we have bred a cow or heifer, we have a timeframe where we need to make sure we are getting our animal into proper body condition. This will help her meet her nutritional needs as well as that of her developing calf and once the calf has been born, help to meet its nutritional needs until it is weaned.
Recording Body Condition Scores does not take a lot of time and can be done as simply as on a sheet of paper or you can even keep your records on your phone or computer. It is low stress for you and your cattle.
Here are some K-State publications that can go into detail, show you data supporting the use of BCS and help you get started using BCS for your herd:
Guide to Body Condition Scoring Beef Cows and Bulls:
https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/guide-to-body-condition-scoring-beef-cows-and-bulls_MF3274.pdf
Nutritional Management of Cows by Body Weight:
https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/nutritional-management-of-cows-by-body-condition_MF3275.pdf
Body Condition Record Book:
https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/body-condition-record-book_MF3277.pdf
If you have any questions concerning Body Condition Scoring, please contact any of our Wild West Extension offices and I will try to help you.
