Polk County Soils and Crops Conference

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Polk County Soils and Crops Conference

• Dr. Weston Walker
• Missouri State University
• February 7, 2006

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Resource or Product?
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Resource or Product?
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Are you a

• Livestock Manager?
• or
• Forage Producer?
• Profitable livestock production efficiently
  converting forage to meat, wool, or milk.

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The most profitable forage management system will

• Match livestock nutritional needs
• to forage availability and
• Harvest for optimum quality and maximum
  utilization.

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Does Maximum Yield

• Maximum Profit ?
• ? Maximum Profit ?
• Maximum Profit ?
• What does your answer depend on?
• Seasonal production
• Forage quality

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Average Cow Costs in Missouri
Vern Pierce, MU Beef Economist (2000)
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Livestock Needs

• Animal Unit 1000 lbs. of animal
• Designed to put all animals on same scale of
  consumption, acres needed, but more for
  nutritional needs
• Example 20 gestating beef cows _at_ 1000 lbs./hd.
  20 animal units, or 20 A.U.
• Dry Matter Intake of Body Weight
• Depends upon the life stage and type of livestock
  (cattle, sheep, goats, horses)

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Life stages of Livestock

• Maintenance
• Growth
• Gestation
• Lactation
• Rule of Thumb All animals basically average 3
  of their body weight in DM intake
• Total lbs. of livestock X .03 needed DM

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Simplified Crude Protein Requirements

• Beef Cows, Bred Heifers growing feedlot cattle
  (2 lb/ADG) never over 12 and usually not more
  than 10
• Ewes Does (Nannies) never over 15 and usually
  not more than 10-12
• When do we need more?... young growing animals or
  extra heavy producers

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Net Energy Lactation (NEL) on Dry Matter Basis

• Mega Calories per Lb.
• gt.60 Excellent, Dairy Quality
• .55 - .59 Good, Beef cows will gain wt.
• .50 - .54 Fair, Beef cows will maintain
• lt.50 Poor, not enough energy even for
  maintenance, will lose 1 lb/day

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How/What to feed your Livestock?
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Match feedstuffs to animals

• Now we know the requirements of our animal
• Quantity needed
• Quality required
• How do we determine how much we have?
• How do we determine the quality of what we have?

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• Forages
• Have we covered the growing season with forages
  adequately?
• Have we over/under produced in certain seasons?

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Seasonal Distribution of Forages
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3 things needed to determine amount of forage
available of head it will feed

• Lbs. / Acre of forage
• Utilization rate ()
• Continuous Grazing 30
• Rotational Grazing 70
• Dry Matter Intake rate ()
• 3 of Body Weight (BW)

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Lbs / Acre of forage - on Dry Matter (DM) basis

• Highly variable based on soil type, soil
  fertility, forage species, stand thickness, etc.
• Given as a moment in time measurement, not
  season long
• In a grazing situation, sometimes referred to as
  inches
• Rule of Thumb 200 lb./ acre inch

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Estimated Dry Matter / Acre square inch
Stand Condition
Fair Good
Excellent Bermudagrass 100-250
250-400 400-550 Tall Fescue 150-250
250-350 350-450 Orchard. w/
leg. 100-200 200-300
300-400 T. Fescue w/ leg. 100-200
200-300 300-400 Alfalfa/R. Clover
150-200 200-250 250-300 C.
Bluestem 100-200 200-300
300-400
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Utilization rate

• of available forage (measured to ground level)
  consumed by grazing livestock during a grazing
  period
• Higher utilization rates with higher stocking
  density
• Rule of Thumb
• Continuous Grazing 30 Utilization
• Rotational/Strip Grazing 70 Utilization

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Evaluating Forage Quality

• Visual appraisal
• Can we determine the feed value visually?
• Understand/Interpret feed analysis reports
• Protein
• NDF/ADF
• Energy Content (Net Energy Lactation)

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Proper Hay Sampling Method

• Need a cross-section sample of of entire bale
• For square bales take core sample from the end of
  bale.

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Net Energy Lactation (NEL) on Dry Matter Basis

• gt.60 Excellent, Dairy Quality
• .55 - .59 Good, Beef cows will gain wt.
• .50 - .54 Fair, Beef cows will maintain
• lt.50 Poor, not enough energy even for
  maintenance
• (see example next slide)

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No matter how much they eat, they will starve to
death!
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Fescue / Red Clover 1st cutting
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Orchardgrass / Red Clover 1st cutting
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Management of Hay

• Feeding
• Methods of preventing livestock from wasting so
  much hay.
• Storage
• Prevention of yield loss due to weathering on
  round bales.

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Are these the table manners of your livestock?
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Storage Method Examples
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Not so Good Storage Methods
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Another No, No.
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Did you know.?

• A 6 x 6 bale will receive about 22 gallons of
  water for each inch of rain
• 30 inches 660 gallon
• Dry matter storage loss
• Hay stored inside 5
• Hay stored outside 30 or more
• Rule of Thumb
• 5 DM loss for every 1 inch spoilage depth
• Example 6 inches spoiled X 5 30 reduction in
  DM
• 1000 lb. bale originally has 700 lb. of usable
  product

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Management of Forage

• Nutrients are in the leaves
• Grazing Rule of thumb Take ½, Leave ½ to
  maximize plant regrowth potential root growth
  stops if gt50 forage height is removed
• Haying Rule of Thumb Cut hay in the boot or bud
  stage and manage the handling process to minimize
  leaf loss

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Nutrients are in the leaves
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Yield Quality in Forages
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Quality of Fescue KY 31
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Net Energy Lactation (NEL) on Dry Matter Basis

• gt.60 Excellent, Dairy Quality
• .55 - .59 Good, Beef cows will gain wt.
• .50 - .54 Fair, Beef cows will maintain
• lt.50 Poor, not enough energy even for
  maintenance

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Fall/Winter Stockpiling

• Tall fescue well suited.
• - Tall fescue holds its quality and stays greener
  longer than any other cool season grass for
  stockpiled winter pasture.
• Some producers are getting into March without
  feeding hay.

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Stockpiled Tall Fescue Crude Protein
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22
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20
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18
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Percentages
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10
10
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Table 1
0
October
November
December
January
February
March
Months
Courtesy of Mark Green, NRCS
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Fescue / Red Clover 1st cutting
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Protein Intake vs. Requirement
September Calving Beef Cows - 1100 lb.- Southern
Missouri
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6.57
5.73
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4.91
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4.09
Intake Require
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Pounds
3.26
2.87
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2.3
2.28
2.23
2.17
2.13
2.09
2
1
Table 3
0
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Months
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Energy Intake vs. Requirement
Fall Calving Beef Cows - 1100 lb. - Southern
Missouri
Table 4
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Advantages of Stockpile Grazing

• Reduced Labor
• Reduced Costs
• Reduced Time
• Putting up hay and feeding out hay
• High Quality Forage
• Usually better than grass hay

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Things we have learned

• Forage quality in a managed grazing system can be
  better than we thought
• Protein is seldom deficient in vegetative
  pastures
• Quality of tall fescue fall regrowth is very high
• Tall fescue holds quality well into late winter
  and early spring

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Conclusions

• Realize livestock nutritional needs
• Understand what quality forage is
• Take proper forage samples
• Determine if stored forage will meet nutritional
  needs of livestock
• Understand steps necessary for putting up quality
  forage
• Realizing most economical storage methods

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Conclusions continued

• Be aware of possible ways to stretch winter
  forage supplies
• Know management procedures and techniques
  necessary for quality forage production

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Putting Knowledge into Practice

• Utilize forage test information to make the
  necessary management decisions for livestock
  nutritional requirements.
• Rotational Grazing is the only route to take if
  sustainable, long-term livestock production is
  the goal, no other means of production can
  incorporate so many benefits to land, producer,
  and environment

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Take Home Thoughts

• People dont Plan to FailThey Fail to Plan!
• and likewise
• Good forage livestock nutrition programs do not
  just happen they are Planned.