fbpx

Tag: Feedyard Success

How to keep the herd

Drought or land competition may limit grazing opportunities, not creativity

 

by Jill J. Dunkel

The drought has eased in places, but it persists in 40% of the U.S. and another 10% could revert if seasonal rains stay away this summer. That outlook from the USDA Drought Monitor has many ranchers short on grazing or water at a crossroads. Do they sell out with hopes of getting back in once the drought subsides? Or do they spend the money to feed and water their cows to preserve the genetics?

“It’s a scenario we’ve heard an awful lot about,” says Vern Anderson, Extension animal scientist at North Dakota State University. “Farmers and ranchers are scrambling for ways to keep their cowherds.”

From there to Texas, weather, feed prices and land values combine to inspire solutions that include drylotting the herd. Although feeding cows everything they eat sounds expensive, Anderson says it can work.

“The bottom line is cows are very adaptable, given a little bit of time. If you feed to meet their nutrient requirements, you can be very creative in what you feed,” he says.

John Perrin, Hereford, Texas, is looking down the barrel of a three-year drought.

“In 2011, I sold almost everything,” he says. “I weaned early. The older cows went to the packer. The younger cows I sold as bred. The only thing I kept was one load of bred heifers, and I kept them in my pens for a while.”

His decision to keep bred replacements instead of young cows was simple – they take up less space and require less feed and water. Using his vertical mixer to grind farm-grown hay with wet distillers grains, Perrin fed the heifers in troughs or on the ground. As time went on, he also grazed failed wheat and milo, as well as CRP ground opened due to drought.

“I was able to keep my genetics without having to start completely over. If you like your genetics, you should like your heifer calves. I knew I was looking at a couple of years before I had a calf crop to sell, but I also figured I was looking at a couple of years before I had grass,” Perrin says.

Sacrificing a small pasture or trap to confine a herd, they could be supplemented like in a drylot, Anderson says. Feed—whatever it is—can be placed in different locations there, and cows still have a little room to roam.

“Cows are very flexible,” he adds. “We’ve looked at a lot of products including distillers grains, wheat, barley malt, sunflower meal, all kinds of screenings. The first time we offered our cows straw for roughage, they turned up their noses at us, but after two days, they decided it wasn’t so bad.

“Meet their requirements in whatever form you can, as cheaply as you can,” Anderson says.

One option is feeding a concentrate ration every other day, and keeping a low-quality roughage available at all times.

“Roughage can be hay, straw, stover, any biomass you have,” Anderson says. “Feeding every other day reduces the labor to feed cows, but it is not infrequent enough to affect the rumen.”

And it has some positive social implications on the cows.

“When we fed every day, the cows would be anxious as soon as the tractor started. But when we fed every other day, we noticed a reduction in the anxiety. It kept them from getting all excited, jostling and trying to get to us.”

Tom Williams, manager of Chappell (Neb.) Feedlot, has fielded calls from producers asking to him to save pen space for cows.

“The grazing season is going to be short this year, and we are prepared to feed cows for customers,” he says. “I tied up way more roughage inventory than usual, and we can feed a silage-based ration. We also have some bigger pens where the cows could get some exercise.”

While pasture resources are short for many, water can be another challenge.

Joe Howard Williamson, Archer City, Texas, embraced new ways to get water to his commercial Angus cows last summer, and he’s ready to do it again if necessary.

“We were slightly understocked, so grass wasn’t the big issue. But we didn’t have the hard rains necessary to run water into our dirt tanks [ponds]. Tanks were low and cows would bog up to their knees or deeper trying to get a drink,” he says.

Like Perrin, Williamson’s creativity let him preserve the herd. He ranches in an area with limited underground water, and local municipalities were unwilling to sell bulk water for livestock consumption.

“I had a fresh spring on one part of the ranch, and I hauled tanker-trucks of water out of the spring into dirt tanks in dry pastures,” he says. Williamson also tapped into a water line that ran through several pastures, placing large, metal water troughs on floats where needed. This gave his cows access to fresh water, and he wasn’t as concerned with cows getting stuck in the mud in his dirt tanks.

He also found other fresh springs just underground on his ranch.

“I was riding through pastures, and I’d find a strip of green grass. One day I decided to dig up one of those areas, and the next day the hole was full of water,” he explains. “We dug out a hole about the size of two pickups and it kept the cows watered in that pasture throughout the summer. It probably wouldn’t water them year-round, but it bought us some time until we received a little rain.”

Williamson said the drought made him look beyond traditional answers and see what resources he might have right under his nose.

“I didn’t want to sell out if at all possible,” he says. “I worked for 20 years to build my Angus genetics in this herd, and I didn’t like the idea of starting over.”

NOTE: North Dakota State University’s publication on drylotting beef cows is available at: www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/beef/as974.pdf

You may also like

You, Your Cows and Their Feed

You, Your Cows and Their Feed

by | Sep 29, 2023

Expert guidance from Dusty Abney at Cargill Animal Nutrition shares essential strategies for optimizing cattle nutrition during droughts, leading to healthier herds and increased profitability in challenging conditions.

Marketing Feeder Cattle: Begin with the End in Mind

Marketing Feeder Cattle: Begin with the End in Mind

by | Sep 29, 2023

Understanding what constitutes value takes an understanding of beef quality and yield thresholds that result in premiums and/or discounts. Generally, packers look for cattle that will garner a high quality grade and have excellent red meat yield, but realistically very few do both exceptionally well.

Magnum Feedyard Earns Certified Angus Beef Award

Magnum Feedyard Earns Certified Angus Beef Award

by | Sep 25, 2023

While Magnum hasn’t always had pens filled with Angus-influenced cattle, they’ve invested in infrastructure, improved quality-based marketing and sought better genetics. Their dedication to detail and employee appreciation drive their success to high-quality beef production.

Control stocker risk with management

 

by Miranda Reiman

Backgrounding may seem simple: Buy calves right, feed them well, keep them healthy and sell them for more.

But all the details behind that list prove how difficult the job can be, as noted during the recent “Backgrounding for Quality” field day at White Brothers Cattle Co., near Chickasha, Okla.

At the seminar, co-sponsored by Oklahoma State University (OSU), Pfizer Animal Health and Certified Angus Beef ®, local veterinarian Bruss Horn emphasized that good management starts with the buy.

“You can purchase your cattle at a salebarn, you can purchase them on a video but you have to know what you’re getting,” he said, noting that he considers most salebarn cattle “high risk.”

Previous history and management give a producer clues as to how to handle them upon arrival—a step that requires advanced planning.

“Be ready to go,” he suggested, citing equipment, labor and planned operating procedures.

“Are you going to process them right off the truck or are you going to let them rest?” Horn asked. Local calves are less likely to benefit from a break than long-distance arrivals, where the plan might be, “I am going to give them some good clean hay and water and they are going to lie down and rest before we process them the next day.”

He said using preventative antibiotics on high-risk cattle—co-mingled groups, those with no history or known problems—helps maintain health. That’s in tandem with a good vaccination program on all cattle. At Horn’s practice, it’s common to give shots for blackleg, BVD (bovine viral diarrhea) and IBR (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis).

“I am a big proponent of modified-live vaccines. I just think you’ll get a whole lot better response with them,” he said.

They also “double deworm” cattle at receiving, using an injectable and an oral dose at the same time.

Horn brought up other best management practices, like dehorning, castrating any bull calves and testing for persistently infected (PI) BVD cattle.

“So, it’s time to turn them out—the herd health does not stop there,” he said. “You know there is a difference between vaccination and immunization. Vaccination is getting a shot and immunization is if it worked.”

Free-choice trace minerals, including iron and copper, can help that response.

“You have got to have them on a good plane of nutrition,” Horn said.

OSU professor Gerald Horn, ironically no relation to the Dr. Horn who preceded his own talk, covered all things on that front.

 

“Sustained corn prices will result in a paradigm shift, accentuating the importance of growing those cattle to heavier weights on grass before bringing them forward,” said the animal scientist.

He shared research that included both fall and spring calves that were either weaned directly into a feedyard or grown on grass or wheat pasture first.

As expected, the yearlings had worse feed-to-gain ratios (6.83 vs. 5.44 lb.), but heavier hot carcass weights. The average daily gains (ADG) were similar, calves at 3.63 lb. and 3.81 lb. for yearlings.

“We all know that the growth potential of our cattle has increased over quite a few years and I think that’s the primary explanation for that,” he said.

Turning cattle into yearlings did not hurt quality grade.

“That is different than some of the data recorded up in the northern Great Plains,” he noted.

Mostly that’s due to high-quality forage—full of protein and energy—or supplementation.

“For long feeding programs in Oklahoma, supplementation programs have been an absolute game changer,” he said.

Talking about the development of fat deposits during grazing, Horn said there is a strong, positive relationship between marbling and ADG, indicating that adding pounds and quality are mutually beneficial.

Veterinarian Mike Nichols, of Pfizer Animal Health, reminded stockers that their charge is to make money by eliminating the gamble in the high-risk cattle.

“No segment of the beef industry is more focused on health,” he said. “If nutrition is not right, the animal health aspect will not be right.”

And in today’s climate, full of high input prices, sometimes it’s good to reflect. “With investment in the calf, the results of our decisions have more impact than they ever have before,” he said.

You may also like

You, Your Cows and Their Feed

You, Your Cows and Their Feed

by | Sep 29, 2023

Expert guidance from Dusty Abney at Cargill Animal Nutrition shares essential strategies for optimizing cattle nutrition during droughts, leading to healthier herds and increased profitability in challenging conditions.

Marketing Feeder Cattle: Begin with the End in Mind

Marketing Feeder Cattle: Begin with the End in Mind

by | Sep 29, 2023

Understanding what constitutes value takes an understanding of beef quality and yield thresholds that result in premiums and/or discounts. Generally, packers look for cattle that will garner a high quality grade and have excellent red meat yield, but realistically very few do both exceptionally well.

Nebraska Ranch Receives Certified Angus Beef Commercial Award

Nebraska Ranch Receives Certified Angus Beef Commercial Award

by | Sep 25, 2023

Troy Anderson, managing a Nebraska ranch, focuses on breeding thriving maternal cows that will grade premium Choice and Prime, while respecting livestock, people and land. Anderson Cattle receives the 2023 CAB Commitment to Excellence Award. Their journey includes improving genetics, feeding home-raised and purchased calves and using data for better breeding decisions, all with a bottom-line approach.

Healthy gains hit quality target

 

The first step in achieving goals is to set them. That’s why feedyard managers aim for the best live and harvested performance, and that means a few points better than last year. Carcass value is especially important to those who sell cattle on a grid.

Producers may think efficiency comes from choosing genetics for feedlot performance over marbling and beef quality. But thesis research by Kansas State University Master’s student Marisa Hands-Kleysteuber and academic advisor, animal scientist Chris Reinhardt, says otherwise.

Data from 17,919 cattle fed at a southwest Kansas feedlot were evaluated for the paper, “Relationships between feedlot health, average daily gain and carcass traits of Angus steers.” Results show the highest quality grade cattle were also the highest gaining, regardless of disease status. They also suggest managing for a consistant end-point can be as influential as genetics.

“Even if cattle with similar genetics are fed for the same period of time, differences in carcass qualities will arise,” Reinhardt says.” Many times that is because of illnesses in certain animals.

Healthy animals tend to perform better, and the steers in this study provide an example. All marketed at an individually identified, fat-constant endpoint, those requiring no treatment for disease or illness graded 72% USDA Choice or Prime, compared to 59% for those treated two or more times. They weighed more coming in, and gained more with fewer days on feed to extend their advantages over steers that required treatment.

Reinhardt examined data on those steers that were never sick to look for correlations between average daily gain and quality grade because earlier work has noted that higher gaining cattle tend to grade better. This study found nothing to dispute that, and noted, “performance dramatically dropped for those cattle that were ungraded [Standard or No-Roll].”

On the other hand, the more times cattle were treated, the lower performance in the yard and in carcass value; ungraded cattle turned out to be those that required treatment just about twice as often as other cattle.

Sickness usually means a temporary setback. While cattle showing morbidity deposit less external and intramuscular fat, feeding to the same fat-constant endpoint as healthy cattle cuts down on those differences in marbling scores and performance. Of course, it takes more days on feed in a setting where clearly time is money.

“The relationship between Yield Grade (YG) and Quality Grade in treated cattle is actually greater than in non-treated cattle,” the report states. “Allowed to reach an adequate degree of finish, marbling should also follow.”

Regardless of health, the study suggested all cattle optimize marbling by feeding them with the goal of achieving YG 3 (See tables and full study on page 4 of the 2012 KSU Cattlemen’s Day Report at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/srp1065.pdf).

Steers reaching that level of cutability made 16.1 percentage points more Choice and Prime as compared to those steers falling within the range of YG 1 or 2. Premium Choice carcasses were increased by 10.3 points in the same comparison.

“It pays to keep cattle healthy, yes. But these results also tell us if we want to raise high-quality beef, we do not need to bypass performance genetics for high-marbling traits,” Reinhardt says. “We can select a combination of both.”

Management counts, certainly. The research report concludes producers who “reduce opportunities for nutritional stress (e.g. nutrient restriction, health challenges) and ensure their cattle are fed to their target fat content endpoint … will more consistently achieve both excellent performance and quality grade [goals].”

Crucible for quality

The Taylors win CAB honors

by Steve Suther

September 22, 2011

In this decade, Jimmy and Tracy Taylor’s data-driven herd south of Cheyenne, Okla., expanded to its practical capacity of 600 Angus cows on 12,000 acres in 38 pastures. Last year, 315 steers and heifers hit the mark with 58.4% Certified Angus Beef ® brand (CAB®) and CAB Prime.

But months went by without rain while the sun baked the withered roots on the plateau bordering Black Kettle National Grasslands west of Elk City, where the Taylors live.

Heavily supplemented and strategically culled, the top 95% of their spring cows weaned creep-fed calves a month early as the smaller fall herd began making the best of a bad situation.

For all the challenges, the Taylors love it. Having to feed cows on summer grass each day? Great opportunity to check on water, health and head counts while calves get used to a grain ration.

Pastures cut up by old gas-well access roads? Great infrastructure for ranch access. Drought of the century? Brings individual cow evaluation to the forefront as the profit makers get even better.

Silver linings abound, even without a cloud in the sky.

Recipients of the 2011 Commercial Commitment to Excellence Award at the CAB Annual Conference in Sunriver, Ore., Sept. 20-22, they make the best of just about anything. Tracy puts her husband in the starring role, but Jimmy says he couldn’t do it without her support.

Dale Moore, Cattleman’s Choice Feedyard, Gage, Okla., nominated his customers for three consecutive years. “They base their program on the CAB and Prime goal, and have made some of the most dramatic and positive changes among all of our customers,” he says.

The ranch was started in 1914 by Jimmy’s great-grandfather, but his father, Jim, was the first to actually manage the place, beginning in 1953. He pioneered intensive rotational grazing with long resting periods for the land.

Hereford cattle were the mainstay, later crossed with Simmentals when Jimmy formed a father-son partnership in 1980. Newlyweds then, the young Taylors learned every rock, ridge and creek before buying sole interest in 1993.

“Our goal was simply to sell the most pounds of beef at weaning,” Jimmy says. “Over time, we began to see there is more security for our ranch and for the whole industry if we reoriented to give the consumer a better eating experience. We changed with the incorporation of registered Angus bulls to a goal of producing the best steak we can possibly make.”

Those first Angus-cross calves arrived in 2006.

As low-stress handling, a rising plane of nutrition through weaning, selection indexes and artificial insemination (AI) became the rule, the www.cabcattle.com website became a favorite.

That’s how they found Moore and began retaining ownership. “I found out real quick that our goals were very similar,” Jimmy says. “We’ve been with him ever since.”

They’ve used the AngusSource® program for genetic and source verification since 2007 and won the regional AngusSource Carcass Challenge with those calves the next year.

Because of the data they have on each animal, purchased females no longer enter the herd.

Information from Cattleman’s Choice and CAB, combined with Jimmy’s observations and ultrasound scans for intramuscular fat (% IMF) are all organized in Tracy’s spreadsheet.

Her report on the 18 herd bulls starts with year purchased, tag number, registered name, maternal and carcass EPDs (expected progeny differences), ultrasound data and $ Values. The cow report/field-data sheet lists cows in ranch-tag order with source, calf tag, Bangs number, sire, progeny carcass history, % IMF since ’08, due date, calved date, location, calf tag, sex, sire, pasture bull and turn-in date, plus a few comments columns.

“Over the years we sit down together and keep adapting the program, tweak it until it gives us exactly what he wants to see,” Tracy says.

Small pastures let Jimmy match certain cows with the bulls that best complete their genetics.

“We look at them one at a time,” Jimmy says. “We’re just now getting to the point where data factors in enough to eliminate those weaker in carcass value.” They can sort by sire groups, too, and consider sire effect on progeny from each cow.

“Jimmy calls off a number and I read out to him what she has done,” Tracy says. “It’s kind of tedious, but he’s building up a good herd this way. Good genetics that we know we want to keep. That’s why he’s supplementing instead of selling.” Winter pasture was secured in Nebraska as well.

Creep feeding was an innovation last year, a necessity in 2011. For weaning, the herds come into corrals adjacent to the trap rotation for what seems like just another supplement session, but the calves get shots to booster the May round of vaccines and cows go back out to the rotation.

“We watch the calves for four or five days and then they are turned out on the traps, too,” Jimmy says. “It has worked well for us.”

Part-time help fills in for big jobs like working calves, weaning and AI, but otherwise, the Taylors run a “ma and pa” ranch, where they’re in it together. Just another way they show that commitment.

You may also like

$100,000 Up for Grabs with 2024 Colvin Scholarships

$100,000 Up for Grabs with 2024 Colvin Scholarships

by | Mar 20, 2024

Certified Angus Beef is offering $100,000 in scholarships for agricultural college students through the 2024 Colvin Scholarship Fund. Aspiring students passionate about agriculture and innovation, who live in the U.S. or Canada, are encouraged to apply before the April 30 deadline. With the Colvin Scholarship Fund honoring Louis M. “Mick” Colvin’s legacy, Certified Angus Beef continues its commitment to cultivating future leaders in the beef industry.

Raised with Respect™ Cattle Care Campaign Launched This Fall

Raised with Respect™ Cattle Care Campaign Launched This Fall

by | Dec 20, 2023

Raised with Respect™ was developed as part of a strategic cattle care partnership between Sysco and CAB. The collaboration focuses on supporting farmers and ranchers, equipping them with continuing education to stay current on best management practices and helping to increase consumer confidence in beef production.

Drought Impact and Cattle Industry Dynamics

Drought Impact and Cattle Industry Dynamics

by | Nov 8, 2023

As drought conditions persist across much of cattle country, farmers and ranchers are at a pivotal juncture in the cattle industry’s landscape. What impact does this prolonged dry spell have on the nation’s herd numbers? When will heifer retention begin? How will industry dynamics influence the spring bull sale season?

A lot of little things done well

 

by Jackie Eager

White Land & Cattle Company treats all the little things like big ones.

Gary White manages the family-owned feedlot that has been in business near Lexington, Neb., for 35 years. Its 2,500-head capacity is the perfect size to focus on all the details, White says.

The family works with a nutritionist and uses ultrasound technology to help all cattle reach an ideal finished end point. Around 80 to 90 days pre-harvest, they are routinely divided into three marketing groups.

“Sorting cattle allows us to reach optimum feed efficiency and cost of gain,” White says.

The feeding program includes a ration of wet and dry-rolled corn, silage, hay and wet distillers grains. South-central Nebraska is a great location for supplying those feedtuffs and fed-cattle markets.

Every extra dollar is extracted through value-added strategies such as age-and-source verification, quality system assessment (QSA) and a USDA process verified program (PVP).

The Whites don’t stop there. They also work with a bank to offer feed financing and help with risk management.

Recently the family decided to provide one more layer of customer service by licensing the feedlot with Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB). The move helps them provide detailed carcass data to customers and tap into CAB educational resources.

The Feedlot Licensing Program (FLP), made up of more than 65 yards across the United States, is designed to reward producers for high-quality cattle that meet Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand specifications. Partner feedlots enroll cattle and sell to licensed packers that pay premiums for those that qualify for the brand.

“We’ve always liked feeding a high percentage of Angus cattle,” White says. “They have always preformed well.”

On average, he says most yearling cattle gain from 3.4 to 3.8 pounds a day, and that performance comes along with a standing goal to hit the CAB marbling level, at least the upper two-thirds of USDA Choice.

Cow-calf producers may retain ownership, partner with the feedlot or sell calves outright, but regardless of the arrangement they’ll still get feedlot information back to help perfect their herds.

“I try to be the most efficient I can for the customer,” White says. “I work with each one to communicate their individual needs into the feeding experience.”

That includes coordinating ranch nutrition and health programs, so cattle aren’t treated twice, for example – just one more example of a little thing that could make a big difference to the bottom line.

Certified Angus Beef is the world’s leading brand of fresh beef. Since 1997, packers have paid producers more than $250 million in value-based grid premiums for cattle accepted into the brand. For more information on CAB product and recipes, visit www.certifiedangusbeef.com. Cow-calf producers and feedlots can learn more about the CAB Program by visiting www.cabcattle.com or by contacting Paul Dykstra at 308-874-2203.