Overgrazed Pasture

[dun]

Please get a culling plan in place soon. The longer you wait the deeper you will have to go. Besides, sell early while the animals have some flesh and will bring good prices. We saw people try to hold on last year and the cattle just got too weak to make it through some of the markets.

In addition you'll be competing with every one else that waited too long to cull down and the market will be glutted which will bring you fewer dollars.

dun

 

[plbcattle]

I can second everyones response. I went through the exact same thing the last 2 years. I was dealing with Registered Brangus, donors, bulls on test, and replacment heifers. I fought the first year by throwing money at it. I spent about 5 times what I normally would by buying feed,hay and protein tubs. The only thing I accomlished was spending a lot of money. Last year I culled down but not aas much as I should have. I spent a fortune on hay. This year I had to give my pastures a break and sent some cows and heifers that I couldn't sell to other parts that had rain. I even bought more land to help my pastures recoop. I promise you that once your pastures decline, it is a long process getting them back into shape. Rain alone won't repair the damage. I have spent a lot of money this year seeding Rancho Frio and common in the spots that haven't still recovered. I am on a serious rotational grazing program and have culled recips that missed there egg on the first take(usually I rebred them for a calf) I also culled bulls on test a little harder and sold some registered heifers as commercials that weren't preforming like they should. I tried the hard way and you are probably in worse shape than you realize. You can't get enough rain this year or won't get enough to get you back in shape. Sell the cows you mentioned and then a couple more. You will be able to use that money to buy more int he future but if you tear up the pasture now it will take longer than you think to fix. Maybe not what you wanted to hear but I have been there and done that.

 

[hurleyjd]

Here is a ghttp://www.kerrcenter.com/nwsltr/2004/ ... is.htmlood article from the Kerr Foundation. They have a newsletter that is published every quarter, no cost just subscribe.
Okay I will tell you a personal story about myself. Back when I was younger and in the dairy business and the milk prices had tanked and feed cost and the bankers interest had skyrocketed also a drought as we have now. This was also when everyone was trying to make thier own fuel. You see gas and diesel prices were very high. I thought that to be a real man in East Texas you had to milk cows. Everyone here seemed to do that. My wife found a job. That helped. The banker was glad to renew the note and add to it if needed. I had a chance to go back to a company that I had worked for when I was younger. I took the job, sold all the cows and equipment and still had $20000 of debt. We managed to get it paid off. I lamented to an older guy one day at work that I felt like a failure because I went bust diarying and I could still see other people that seemed sucessful. He asked the question why did you quit. I told him that I was getting farther behind each year and we had to use the wife's salary to pay for feed at times. He looked me straight in the eye and said, you are no failure, what you did was a good management decision and thats what it takes to keep going. I watched as some of the other people in the area kept dairying and using up their equity and finally the banker says I want mine and that is it. So culling is a good management decision. You might find something to do that is better than running stocker farm.

 

[Brute 23]

I would not hesitate to run a renovater though the pasture. It will not hurt your grass any but it will open up the ground for when you finally do get some rain.

We renovate all the pasture every year and disk under every three to four years. It really helps to soak up the water. That is with coastal though.

I like The 3-Os Rule...

 

[BC]

I don't know if it's a nation-wide rule of thumb, but in this area, people cull by the 'three O' rule: Old, Open, or Ornery. You might also consider early weaning all your claves and selling them. If you wait until the time everyone starts selling off, even your best, most productive cows will only sell as weigh cows, probably no higher than $0.40 per lb.

Plus, since you are in the worse drought ever according to the weather service, you will probably need to feed hay for twice as long as normal. Meaning, if you currently have 2/3 of your normal hay crop, you probably only have enough hay for 1/3 of your cattle, or I should say enough hay for 1/3 of your normal feed requirements, as a cow with a calf weaned off her will require less feed.

Culling can be hard to do, but, whether you are in a drought or not, culling is probably the most important practice a cattleman can do to remain profitable.

Don't be fooled into thinking that early weaning your calves will reduce the grazing pressure enough. The calves just don't eat that much and you will not have as many pounds to sell. The premium this year will be on heavy calves.

Use this order to cull:
Cows with structure problems; dry open cows; cows palpated open at weaning; young replacement heifers; short bred cows;
older cows/with worn teeth and their offspring; older cows with offspring; thin females with offspring; and finally good conditioned middle aged cows. When you get to the last group it is time to fold the tent.

 

[forageconverter]

Don't be fooled into thinking that early weaning your calves will reduce the grazing pressure enough. The calves just don't eat that much and you will not have as many pounds to sell.

I didn't mean to suggest early weaning would help by reducing the calves' grazing pressure, but rather it could help by reducing the cows' nutritional requirements.

A lactating cow requires 3% of her body weight in hay, where as a dry cow only requires 2% of her body weight in hay. Thus, early weaning could allow one to save 1/3 of his hay. Of course, the disadvantage is, as BC mentioned, less pounds to sell.

Also, any cow, no matter her nutritional requirements, will eat all she can stomach if given free access to grass or hay. Meaning, calf or no calf, she is still very capable of overgrazing a pasture.

My only argument against early weaning is if the cattle business isn't profitable enough to allow a person to feed a cow that's raising a calf, then what's the point of having the cow? I guess it allows a guy to hang on to the cow in hopes she will soon become profitable again.