Drought advice

[jdman1952]

With the drought we do not have enough pasture grass or hay to feed the cows and calves until spring. We would have enough hay for the cows, but not both. The calves are a couple months old. I am looking for opinions on what you would do. Hay is pretty much all spoken for now or way over priced. We culled the cows we did not want this spring. Sell the calves off along with the cows that did not breed back on the first cycle or ???? Thanks

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Where are you located?

 

[jdman1952]

I am in northeast Nebraska.

 

[bigbull338]

with those young calves your going have to keep them for 2 or 3 more months.an then sell them.if i was you id start feeding range meal daily to keep from feeding hay right now.depwending on how much hay an cows you have.you could feed like 2 bales of hay a week an meal 3 days a week.that will streach your hay alot.an feed prine tubs as well.

 

[calfbuyer]

I'll agree with bigbull, as you know, we went through this last year. I know what your going through, as does nearly everyone else in Texas. Cull hard if she didn't calve, shes gone, if shes gettn old, shes gone, if she looks at you crossways in the pen, shes gone. You have limited resources as it is and you shur as he!! can't afford to be feeding old or open cattle. Stretch that hay as far as you can. I wouldn't start feeding it until I absolutely had to. Supplement with tubs and range meal and feed as little hay as possible. Try to make it to winter before you really have to start feeding what little hay you have. Your're gonna have to sell the calves earlier than you normally would to give the cows a break also youll have trouble gettn em to breed back if they are thin. I know you don't want to hear this but I fought it all summer and gave up in September as I was out of hay and had no grass also all of the tanks were dry and I had been watering with community water all summer (expensive, cows drink alot of water in the summer). I sold the calves about 300 lbs lighter than normal then 2 months later sold the cows. Cows are now selling higher than a girrafes AZZ and I could only buy back about half of what i sold. Hang in there maybe youll get a rain.

 

[calfbuyer]

By the way, I sold 75% of my herd in September and it rained 6 inches in October and we have been getting good rains ever since. There really is no good answer on sellin out or not.

 

[CJohnson]

I survived without selling out by planting small grain and ryegrass winter pasture for my cows and limit grazed them. It was not cheap by any means but worked out better than alternatives. However, we got rain in October and had a mild winter which really helped. I actually bought additional pairs in November, weaned the calves in the spring and am selling the cows now as bred for fall calving with a good profit.

 

[agmantoo]

jdman1952

Can you locate a corn grower that is having drought problems also? If you can find one that tentatively is going to have a crop failure can you buy the drought stricken corn crop and salvage the stalks?

 

[jdman1952]

Thanks for the advice. Bigbull what is the range meal and what kind of cost is it? Could a person just cut and bale the corn or does it have to be in silage form.

 

[H and H]

JD - are you close to any of the ethanol plants in the area and do you have access to last years corn stalk bales? We've dry lotted cows by grinding the bales and mixing with wet cake from the plant, this time of year the cake is usually cheaper. We are at least a month from cutting silage down here (Wisner).

Ive also heard rumors of them opening up CRP for emergency grazing. Where are you located, I know of a few CRP tracts coming out?

 

[agmantoo]

You may want to read this if you are interested in feeding corn residue
http://hayandforage.com/livestock/beef/ ... costs-0218

 

[bigbull338]

range meal is usually soybean or cottonseed meal mixed with salt.its 1lb of meal to 2lbs of salt mixed togather.

 

[TexasBred]

Thanks for the advice. Bigbull what is the range meal and what kind of cost is it? Could a person just cut and bale the corn or does it have to be in silage form.

A salt limiter range meal is not what you want in a drought. It gives you some limited protein but the cattle need some source of roughage. Even very low quality roughage works ok if you supplement it with a good protein source but it will need to be 20% protein or higher. Corn stalks have very little feed value but will at least fill one up, not much else.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Thanks for the advice. Bigbull what is the range meal and what kind of cost is it? Could a person just cut and bale the corn or does it have to be in silage form.

A salt limiter range meal is not what you want in a drought. It gives you some limited protein but the cattle need some source of roughage. Even very low quality roughage works ok if you supplement it with a good protein source but it will need to be 20% protein or higher. Corn stalks have very little feed value but will at least fill one up, not much else.

Amen TB !
Need to watch the protien as well I was feeding 12% bulk feed.

 

[wildsawmill]

is there a concern of corn staks being toxic in this drought
i have over an acre of sweet corn right now that is now tassling at 3' height with no ears so i expect it s a total waste
thinking of bailing it for feed but concerened about drought stress
could i have it tested ?
woud i do that before bailing or after

 

[houstoncutter]

Sell all calves NOW, not later...That cow can make it if she has a little eat and some hustle in her... What i am afraid for producers in your area is, your cows dont have any hustle bred in to em. Thats not your fault either.......I am always amazed as i drive to Canada every year watching producers cutting the highways all through the Midwest. Was shocked to learn that most were using this grass for bedding.... When I had cows, they would have died and thought they went to cow heaven to have been consuming what many of you use for bedding.

So having said all that, try to keep the cows that have some hustle, because I am afraid you are gonna need some hustle in your cow herds in the Midwest.

 

[H and H]

Windsawmill, I would have any corn stalks that have not made an ear tested. Depending on the level of fertilization, there is probably excess nitrate in the stalks, this nitrate is subsequently converted into nitrite, which is 10x more toxic to cattle.

I read somewhere that you can chop it for silage and over the course of a year or more the fermentation process brings the nitogen levels back down to a safe range for cattle. Doesnt really help you with this years feed needs, but at least its not a total loss.

Proceed with caution.

 

[jdman1952]

After talking with the insurance guy, about the only inexpensive feed option is to cut and bale the stalks after we possibly harvest what little corn there is. Am I correct in thinking that nitrates will not be a problem then? We have good hay that we want to mix with the stalks.

 

[H and H]

I found UNL extension's "The Use and Pricing of Drought Stressed Corn" publication 1865 very informative. This should give you a good start, sorry I couldn't copy the link from my phone.

Mixing with good hay will lower the overall nitrate concentration in the ration.

Best of luck, we are praying for rain for all.

 

[wildsawmill]

thanks