protein/energy with drought

[denoginnizer]

My pastures ,at best, look like middle winter - brown dead grass. I am starting to feed a little bit of cubes/soy hull pellets for protein and energy. Anybody else feeding protein?
Any special mineral that cattle need more of in drought situation? What do most people overlook about the droughts and cattle?

 

[ffamom]

We have started feeding alfalfa hay. Right now it is cheaper than coastal hay and offer a lot more protein. I have copied and pasted a response from Texas A&M my son received from Larry Boleman.

"Well your research has served you well and your information concerning
nutrient analysis is appropriate, albeit short on accurate
recommendations.

I'm not sure whether you are feeding current competitive show heifers or
you retired show heifers that are now cows.

No matter, there is no comparison, with the prices you gave me that the
best buy for nutrients is easily the alfalfa.

Alfalfa has about 18 to 23% protein whereas coastal hay may have 6 to
12% and alfalfa has much more vitamins and minerals as well. But the
ranchers are right in that it does not have as much fiber. However there
is plenty of fiber in the pasture with dried grass, hopefully and if not
we recommend feeding some grass hay with the alfalfa.

If feeding cows and grass is available in the pasture feed about 6
pounds of alfalfa per day for a dry mature cow and 12 pounds a day if
she has a calf.

In the same situation with the above cows but with no grass in the
pasture feed the same amounts of alfalfa along with 14 pounds of grass
hay to the dry cow and add 20 pounds of grass hay to the cow with a
calf.

Now on show cattle eating a full show ration well balanced and eating
about 2% of their body weight then little is needed in the way of hay
except a small block or two of grass hay to help develop the middle and
fill out the middle especially if they don't show as much middle as you
or the judge would like.

If the show cattle need to eat more to get a good finish and fat
covering then you'll need to cut back on hay because it displaces feed
intake and feed is more concentrated in nutrients than hay.

Sometimes if cattle are not eating good a small block of alfalfa helps
stimulate appetite but so does hulls and even small amounts of grass
hay.

When holding cattle on a holding or maintenance diet I like to add some
alfalfa because of its high and high quality protein and the additional
vitamins and minerals.

For more detailed information go to the extensionanimalscience website.
There are some great nutrition publications and there is a show paper by
me, Chris Boleman and Dennis Herd. It is a goop paper to that goes into
nutrition of show cattle.

Hope this helps.

LLB"

 

[dun]

What do most people overlook about the droughts and cattle?

Heavy culling and over grazing pastures this year will hurt you in years to come. Those in my opinion are what people don;t do or lose sight of.

dun

 

[denoginnizer]

What do most people overlook about the droughts and cattle?

Heavy culling and over grazing pastures this year will hurt you in years to come. Those in my opinion are what people don;t do or lose sight of.

dun

Dun are you saying not to over cull ?

 

[Farminlund]

I would agree - yes don't over-cull. During the last drought here ('02) a friend nearly let his whole herd go - no feed so they were shipped. He has yet to reestablish a herd with the same genetic quality that he sold 3 yrs ago. Yes, he got thru the drought with limited economic loss but in the subsequent years he has paid for that "reduced loss then" with reduced sales & profit since - so yes, I think Dun is say don't cull too deeply & don't overgaze.

Dun correct me if I have missunderstood you.

 

[Farminlund]

OBTW - he says never again - its either get out of the business all together or pay whatever it takes to maintain the core of his herd.

 

[dun]

I meant cull and cull deep. Not culling will only hurt the forage base in the long run or run you bankrupt buying feed. You can buy more cows when things turn around but save the forage system.

dun

 

[Farminlund]

I stand corrected - but with the example I sited, I beleive there is such a thing as overculling. It is difficult & expensive to replace good genetics that have been developed over many years. You can't go to the sale barn & bring home what you sold there during the drought. So I say cull, but not so deeply that you regret it in the subsequent yrs as my friend has. Again just my 2 cents worth - from a non-guru.

 

[dun]

I stand corrected - but with the example I sited, I beleive there is such a thing as overculling. It is difficult & expensive to replace good genetics that have been developed over many years. You can't go to the sale barn & bring home what you sold there during the drought. So I say cull, but not so deeply that you regret it in the subsequent yrs as my friend has. Again just my 2 cents worth - from a non-guru.

While it's hard to replace the genetics you've owrked for, it's a lot harder and more costly to try toreover pasture that's been abused. It isn;t just a matter of a little rain, a litle fertilizer and a little seed.
After a drought, most people would be better off keeping their stocking rates at or very little above the drought capacity. That has nothign to do with a guru (number of posts) that's from having been through too many of these drought occurences and hopefully having learned.
Another prospective:
http://beef-mag.com/mag/beef_lessons_learned/index.html

 

[Farminlund]

Most interesting.

I did not mean to sound off with the guru comment - no disrespect intented - sorry, as I reread, it was not appropriate.

I will say that their lack of a restocking program was a major issue for their business as it was for my friend. In retrospect, they needed that plan as much (or more) as their destocking plan.

My limited experience is that cattle genetics are harder to replace than forage establishment. During the '02 drought I maintained most of my herd through feed purchases while taking a hit on estabished forage - that has returned with time & reseeding with a no-till drill. I do not think I would be in the same situation had I let my cattle go - just my 2 cents worth.

 

[dun]

Most interesting.

I did not mean to sound off with the guru comment - no disrespect intented - sorry, as I reread, it was not appropriate.

I will say that their lack of a restocking program was a major issue for their business as it was for my friend. In retrospect, they needed that plan as much (or more) as their destocking plan.

My limited experience is that cattle genetics are harder to replace than forage establishment. During the '02 drought I maintained most of my herd through feed purchases while taking a hit on estabished forage - that has returned with time & reseeding with a no-till drill. I do not think I would be in the same situation had I let my cattle go - just my 2 cents worth.

That's what makes a horse race, differences of opinions. We didn;t destock as low as wqe should have 4 years ago and have very slowly added back. With the drought last year and this, I'm glad we didn't restock to the levels that were theoretically possible. Rather then just let some of ther pastures burn up we're boarding cows for the vet. When the pasture is gone so will his cows be. If we had restocked we'ld be having to sell our own cows when thegrass is gone. Sort ofthe same priciple as running stockers/feeders on the excess pasture and shiping them when thegrass is gone. Mightas well utilize what's there.
Even with controlled grazing and not letting the pastures get grazed to short, some of them still aren;t recovered. The only thing that has grown well is spiny pigwed that's invaded some of the pastures. If we had straight ky31 fescue I suspect the pastures would have recvered better, it's the ones with a good (usedto have anyway) mixture of OG, fescue and legumes that have suffered the worst.
Climate and probably even more importantly the soil has a significatn impact on the recovery.

dun