Beef Cow Feeding

It is obvious that we are low on forages this year.  The lack of rain in the critical growing portion of the year has put every beef producer in a bind.  In good rainfall years we can see our native pastures supplying 3,000 lbs per acre, improved natives around 4,500 lbs per year and Tifton 85 bermudagrass around 8,000 lbs per acre.  Figure on grazing 250 days a year and we generally need 25 acres of native or 10 acres of bermudagrass per cow for grazing.  This leaves about 115 days for feeding hay which is about  right!  115 days times 30lbs per day is 3,450 lbs of hay you need but a lot is wasted so you need about 4 bales per cow.  Now how much they eat depends on how good your hay is, less if it is poor quality!!

Years like this has pushed hay prices to $80 per roll or higher and so total for 4 rolls is $320.  The hope is that your hay quality is high enough to meet cow needs and you don’t have to add to the $320 with lots of supplements.

So what does a dry cow need everyday to meet her needs and not be hurt?  If your hay is 9% crude protein and 50% TDN (energy) then feeding 30 lbs a day meets her needs.  If on the other hand you have typical local hay at 7% crude protein and 45% TDN then you need to supplement some protein and energy source.

But the real question is what if I don’t have the hay or the hay is limited?  Then you need a supplement that provides enough protein and energy to maintain her condition and cheaper than buying quality hay.  Just keep in mind that at $80 per roll that is about $2.80 per day in hay cost.  If you only have enough hay to feed 75% of normal then 75% of $2.80 is $2.10 in hay costs leaving you 70 cents to buy a supplement.  Can you do that?

Maybe you can with a good small grain pasture.  Small grains are high in protein and energy, highly digestible and filling.  They can be a great supplement if limit grazed.  They can easily produce 4,000 lbs of dry matter per acre so that as a supplement means it doesn’t take many acres to limit graze with hay.  

Lastly, it is important to add that if you supplement a protein only, then you can skip days even up to a week with no digestive upset in your cows.  If you feed a protein-energy supplement then they must be fed daily or your cattle can go off feed and take days to adjust.  Any diet changes should be done slowly and regularly!

Herbicide Modes of Action “Amino Acid Synthesis Inhibitors”

There are lots of herbicides available for controlling almost every kind of weed there is but knowing which one to use can be difficult.  Let me try to unscramble some of the confusing words we use all the time by talking in this newsletter about how herbicides work commonly known as “mode of action.”.
First we have at least 27 different modes of action (MOA) in herbicides.  What this means is that the herbicide chemical will go to a particular part or site of the plant and work to disrupt that process in the plant.  For instance, Plateau is a type of amino acid synthesis inhibitor.  It prevents the synthesis or formation of one or more amino acids in the plant.  These amino acids are essential to the plant for growth because they are the food for the plant.  So when you use an amino acid synthesis inhibitor the plant begins to starve to death.  This is the reason the “Plateau” or “Outrider,” has the reputation of working slow.
What else is in this family of herbicides?  You may recognize some of the common names of these imidizonaline herbicides like Cadre, Plateau, Pursuit.  Or maybe these in the sulfonylurea (SU) herbicides like Cimarron Plus, Glean, Ally, Amber, Permit, Sandea or Outrider.  All these are in the family of amino acid synthesis inhibitors and have the same mode of action.

Maximilian Sunflower, Texas Gayfeather. Pretty Perennials!

Maybe you have noticed or at least you will notice soon that this is the year for perennial plants!  The flowers mentioned above are perennial flowers (come back from roots) that you are seeing or soon will  see along roadsides or maybe in your pastures.  

Maximilian sunflower is rare where cattle graze since they are a favorite of cattle and generally high in nutrition. Gayfeather is not as palatable except for wildlife but its showy blooms are all over the place in October.  Look for them as you drive Texas’ back country roads.   

Minimum Till Small Grain

Well, we finally got some good general rains throughout the area and the temperatures may still be hot but football and fall is finally here.  That said, most wildlife and livestock producers like to plant small grains -oats and/or wheat, to supplement their grazing or attract wildlife.  So every year we wait on a rain, get out the tractor and disk, and plow at least twice to chop up and bury all that trash thats been growing all summer.  Then we fertilize and plow again and then we wait on a rain to plant and hope that there is enough moisture to bring up a seed.

Is there another way?  Yes! and its called minimum tillage even though its really not minimum till.  What I mean is that instead of changing your procedure you change the date.  If you will plow and even fertilize P and K in the months of July or early August you will have the field essentially ready to plant.  Then when you are ready to plant we can spray an over the top herbicide like Roundup with nitrogen fertilizer to eliminate small weeds and grass that have popped up and then you plant.  The seedbed may have a slight crust that a grain drill can easily penetrate.  Because you have done your tillage early the rains you get settle the soil and allow for a smooth packed seedbed.  The packed seedbed will inhibit weed seedling germination while allowing your small grain to push up through the grain drill row fast.  And this Roundup spray is cheaper than plowing!

Small Grain Forage or Grain

What is a small grain?  We use this term loosely when we generally mean a cereal grain such as oats, wheat, triticale, barley or rye or even rice although here we don't mean rice!  

Small grains are typically planted in the fall as temperatures begin to cool and we start to get fall moisture.  In this area we do plant small grains to actually harvest the seed but overall livestock raisers plant thousands of acres of small grains simply for cattle to graze in the winter and spring.

Planting Small Grains for Grazing

Triticale Variety

If you are strictly interested in grazing high quality small grains for your cattle herd or stockers or bred heifers, then here are a few guidelines:

• We plant early as in NOW, in order to get these plants growing so we can begin grazing early fall and through the winter if possible.
• Generally people don't worry about spending extra money on a named or numbered variety, they simply choose a bulk variety.  What small grain type to plant?  Well some people have their favorites but overall they all do well if planted properly.  In general either a triticale which is a wheat-rye cross or just rye is planted on very sandy soils because they just do better than oats or wheat on sand.  Oats are highly digestible and cattle do well on them, but they can winter freeze.  So you have lots of choices!
• How much seed do you plant?  Again people do have their preferences but to encourage fall grazing we plant more than if you just want to harvest grain.  So plant at least a bushel and more likely 2-3 bushels per acre.  For oats that means 3 bushels or 96 lbs per acre and wheat at 2 bushels or 120 lbs per acre or anything in-between. 
• Small grains do like nitrogen and phosphorus.  Nitrogen can be applied before and after planting but phosphorus does need to be applied to the soil before planting.  We get no response to phosphorus after planting.  How much?  A soil test sure helps to know but without it then a lot of growers use 100#’s of 18-46-0 per acre along with 100#’s of 34-0-0 in the fall followed by another 200#’s of 34-0-0 in January or early February.  
• Lastly if you plant early then watch out for armyworms and greenbugs.  You might have to spray or at least have the cattle ready to graze to keep them under control.