You can usually buy heifers at 8 to 14 cents a pound less than steers for feedlot replacements. On the basis of their merit as feeder or stocker cattle, heifers are often underpriced in comparison to steers. This is especially true when you manage heifers to reduce some of their pregnancy and estrus problems. In addition, feeding both heifers and steers can prolong marketing time. Heifers gain about 10 to 13 percent more slowly than steers and require from 3 to 10 percent more feed for a unit of gain.
Pregnancy causes poor performance and decreases the selling price of slaughter heifers.
It is debatable, though, whether slaughter heifers merit this much discount. Heifers have lighter carcasses, and that increases the packing cost per hundredweight of carcass. A heifer weighing 150 to 200 pounds less than a steer may have 45 to 50 cents per hundredweight more packing cost. A slaughter heifer that is five to six months pregnant has 2.5 to 3.5 points less dressing percentage because of the lost weight of the fetus and fetal fluids and membrane. More fat trim on overfed heifer carcasses can be part of the reason for heifer discounts.