Dairy cattle inventory classes

Definition

Inventory classes split a dairy herd into groups that share a value per head and a lending treatment. Each class is counted at period end, rolled forward month to month, and valued at a per-head unit value (see cattle valuation).

The classes most lenders and appraisers use:

Class	Who is in it
Milk cows	Calved at least once (lactation ≥ 1) and currently milking
Dry cows	Calved at least once, dried off, waiting to calve again
Springing heifers (springers)	Pregnant heifers close to first calving
Bred heifers	Pregnant heifers not yet springing
Open heifers by age band	Non-pregnant replacement heifers, grouped by age
Calves	Youngest heifers, often the first age band(s)
Breeding bulls	Bulls kept for natural service
Feeders / beef	Steers, dairy bull calves on feed, beef-cross calves

Age bands for heifers are set by the lender or the appraisal, e.g. 2-month bands from birth to about 15 months, then bred heifers at roughly 16–21 months, then springers. Coarser schemes (0–6, 6–12, 12+ months) are also common.

Some classes are commonly excluded or carried in a separate line: beef-cross females (not replacements), cull cows already marked for sale, and custom-raised cattle owned by someone else. These classes differ from USDA NASS report classes (milk cows, heifers 500 lb+ for milk cow replacement, steers, bulls, calves under 500 lb), which are weight-based; say which scheme a count uses.

How to pull it in DC305

DC305 is the source for head counts by class. Count from the animal file at period end, by lactation, reproductive status and age:

COUNT FOR LACT>0 RC<6              milk cows (calved, not dry)
COUNT FOR LACT>0 RC=6              dry cows
COUNT FOR LACT=0 RC=5 DCC>220      springing heifers
COUNT FOR LACT=0 RC=5 DCC<=220     bred heifers
COUNT FOR LACT=0 RC<5 AGE<2        open heifers 0–2 months (repeat per band)
COUNT FOR RC=8                     bull calves
ECON\I                             inventory report
ECON\IHD                           past heifer inventory

RC 5 is pregnant, 6 dry, 7 sold/died and 8 bull calf; AGE is age in months (see RC codes). COUNT covers live animals only by default, so sold and dead animals are already left out; don’t add \B. Bull calves are RC 8, so RC<5 heifer counts already leave them out.

A herd’s INV reports (INV1–INV6) are configured inventory pivots that give these counts in one grid; see DC305 inventory reports. Their layouts, and the breed, sex and location items behind beef-cross and bull classes, vary by herd. Check the herd’s private dc305-vocab mapping before relying on a class definition.

Typical range

Herd context: US Holsteins, freestall or dry-lot, raising their own replacements; class shares vary with culling, calving season and heifer program.

Dry cows: about 12–18% of all cows (milk + dry).
Replacement heifers: about 80–100 head per 100 cows when all heifer calves are raised; much lower with beef-on-dairy or sold heifer calves.
Springers: about as many head as the herd’s first-calf freshenings over the springer window (e.g. two months of freshenings for a 60-day window).

Common mistakes

Counting sold or dead animals that are still in the active file at period end.
Splitting milk and dry from events when dry-offs aren’t recorded. If the herd doesn’t record a DRY event consistently, use the period-end census, not a roll-forward of events, for the milk/dry split.
Inconsistent age bands between months or between the count and the valuation schedule.
Measuring age at the wrong date. Age bands must be computed as of period end, not the report run date.
Leaving beef-cross heifers in replacement classes when the lender excludes them.
Mixing a weight-based (NASS) scheme with an age-based one.