November 3, 2021 | Vol. 14 : No. 10
Finding ways to stretch fall and winter feed and keep cattle grazing longer can reduce producers’ costs and keep cattle healthier, according to Timothy DelCurto, professor of Range Beef Cattle Nutrition and Management at Montana State University.
It won’t be long before the first frost will begin to shut down forages, and producers will need to change their feeding of these feedstuffs. Sorghum, sudangrass and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids will require extra management during frosty weather because of risks related to prussic-acid poisoning. Young leaves and tillers will have the highest levels of prussic acid.
While many beef producers only calve once per year, there are some who maintain both fall- and spring-calving herds using the same set of bulls. With this herd management plan, special care needs to be given to the bulls, said veterinarians with the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State University.
On a dry year, native pastures and hay aftermath may not produce enough forage in regions without irrigation. One strategy to increase forage for grazing is to grow annual crops, which may include cereals and brassicas.
In this video, K-State Research and Extension Beef Cattle Specialist Justin Waggoner outlines producers’ options for cattle that may be a little thin heading into the colder months of the year.
“Fall is a great time to take an inventory and look at the condition of cattle before the winter months and before cows advance to the later stages of gestation,” Waggoner says.
Calves on the ground eventually mean dollars in the pocket and steaks in the meatcase. It’s the basics of the beef industry. Reproductive inefficiency, however, costs the beef industry billions every year. Most of that is driven by embryonic mortality and pregnancy loss, says Ky Pohler, an associate professor in the Department of Animal Science and chair of the Pregnancy and Developmental Programming Area of Excellence at the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
