According to the most recent U.S.Drought Monitor, the majority of Arkansas, has returned to normal soil moisture, while areas from central Kansas and south through Texas and regions of the southwestern U.S. remain in a moderate to exceptional drought intensity. Georgia and parts of Florida and South Carolina are also experiencing exceptional drought intensities. Along with restored moisture, winter in Arkansas was exceptionally mild. According to preliminary data of the National Weather Service out of Little Rock, December, January and February were 2.7, 5.7 and 4.5 degrees above normal.
Cattle producers who sowed small grain and ryegrass pastures last fall should start to see the reward for their labor. Others, however, may still be a month or more away from having sufficient pasture forage for grazing. Until then, cattle producers will notice their cattle will spend more time seeking out whatever cool-season pasture plant they find palatable, such as little barley and buttercups, and less time at the round bale feeder.
While grassy weeds may provide greater protein and energy than hay or other fillers that were used this winter to stretch a short hay supply, they tend to mature quickly, such as little barley, or become toxic if cattle develop a desire to continue consuming buttercups through plant maturity. In addition, the overall amount of dry matter available in early spring is low, as plants contain 80 percent water content during this time. Past Extension demonstrations monitoring the monthly growth of replacement heifers observed between February and March recorded a lag in daily gain when heifers were being developed on a hay and supplement diet in a large pasture. The cattle producers participating in the demonstration recognized that the heifers during this period would spend more time seeking our green, growing forage instead of eating hay. The response observed during this transition may be due to many factors, including restricted intakes, greater energy expenditure and rumen microbial adjustment to a new diet.
With drought conditions lingering in the southwestern U.S. and the U.S. calf crop the smallest it’s been since 1951, calf prices should remain strong. Cattle producers need to focus on managing their cattle and pasture resources to take advantage of this market and capture higher returns.
Many cows in Arkansas were wintered on low-quality hay or a hay substitute such as poultry litter or cotton gin waste. The mild winter greatly benefited the cow herd. A general rule of thumb is for each degree below a cow’s lower critical temperature, her energy need increases 1 percent. Alternative roughages fed this winter contained insufficient amounts of digestible nutrients to maintain body condition at thermoneutral environment. Imagine how thin cows would be today if this winter mimicked 2009-10.
Despite the mild winter, many cow herds are thin today due to cows being on a low to moderately-low quality diet for a really long time. Allowing cows to become excessively thin now is going to result in lost income during a period when ranch income could be record high.
Given the current condition of the cow herd, steps cattle producers should take to take advantage of this market include –
- Manage access to pasture. If thin cows are spending too much time chasing after a little amount of green grass, confine these cows to a smaller area and feed them roughage and sufficient supplement to balance their energy and protein needs. As pasture conditions improve, consider limit-grazing pastures twice per week initially, allowing the pasture to become the supplement. Previous research at the University of Arkansas Southwest Research and Extension Center showed that limited pasture grazed twice per week had the same response as a hay-based diet with energy needs balanced using a byproduct feed.
- Manage cows according to body condition. Invest more in thin cows. Many cows are now calving, and it will be difficult to restore thin cows to a good body condition within 45 to 60 days for breeding. However, placing thin cows on a higher plain of nutrition can not only increase the odds of getting them bred back but also can benefit the developing calf by ensuring that sufficient nutrients are being delivered for milk production.
- Try to avoid breeding thin cows and replacement heifers on toxic fescue pastures. Research at the USDA-ARS station in Booneville showed that cow groups that were in moderate body condition had a lower pregnancy rate while grazing toxic fescue compared to groups in good body condition. However, when groups in similar body condition were compared on bermudagrass pasture, pregnancy rates did not differ. A study recently published in the 2011 Arkansas Animal Science indicated heifers on nontoxic fescue were 2.25 more likely to become pregnant compared to heifers on toxic fescue. In addition, research has shown toxic fescue can negatively affect semen quality.
- Manage cow and bull health and evaluate breeding soundness. Spring-calving cows are often transitioning from hay to pasture as breeding season approaches. During this time, cows do not need internal parasite burdens restricting nutrient availability and absorption, so cows should be dewormed. This is also a time to give cows their annual booster shots if they were not administered at weaning or prior to calving. At this point, it is becoming a little late in the season to discuss breeding soundness; however, having bulls examined for breeding soundness is very important to take advantage of any market situation. If numbers help convey the importance of testing for breeding soundness, a recent bull test clinic in central Arkansas had 17 percent of bulls fail the semen evaluation. This was equivalent to 3 of 18 bulls. If running 30 cows per bull during the breeding season, this multiplies to potentially 90 cows not breeding. It takes two to three years to recover the cost of maintaining an open cow on the farm, so how can a breeding soundness exam not be worth the investment.
- Manage the calf crop for minimal death loss and maximum growth potential. If tagging calves at birth, give the calves a growth implant or implant calves at processing/branding time (3 months of age). Vaccinate calves for blackleg by this time. Castrate male calves at birth or three-month processing. If selling calves at weaning, deworming calves 85 days prior to weaning has showed a 10.2 pound improvement in weaning weight (2011 Arkansas Animal Science Research Report).
- 48-hour calf removal. Removing the suckling influence of calves for a two-day period when calves are at least 45 days of age can help females resume estrous. Dr. L. R. Sprott’s publication, Calf Removal – A Way to Stimulate Reproduction in Cows, Texas A&M University, indicates that pregnancy rates during the first 21 days of breeding following 48-hour calf removal will usually be about twice the pregnancy rate of cows whose calves were not removed. Research has shown that cows that breed early during the breeding season will produce more pounds of calf weaned throughout their lifetime than cows that breed late in the breeding season. Calves born early in the calving season are heavier at weaning, and heavier calves bring more total dollars at market.
- Early-wean calves. If implemented early, weaning may help increase the percentage of cows that get bred back during the breeding season. In addition, it may be more economical to put weight on the calf by feeding the calf independently instead of trying to feed the calf through a cow in thin condition. Creep feeding, as opposed to early weaning, can improve weight gains of calves, but creep feeding does not benefit the cow as much as early weaning. Creep-fed calves continue to nurse, which puts greater nutritional demand on the cow, and the efficiency of creep feed conversion to gain can be low if there is ample, high-quality forage available.
- Retain ownership of calves. High feed prices have improved the value of weight gained on pasture. The calf crop income for the 300 Days Grazing demonstration herd increased 9 to 15 percent the previous three years through retaining ownership for 42 to 72 days.
Source: Shane Gadberry, Associate Professor
Comments (0) Leave a comment