Steve Boyles, OSU Beef Extension Specialist Young-bred heifers and young cows that have just weaned their first calf should be fed separately from the mature cows in the herd. The young animals are smaller, still growing, and are replacing their temporary teeth. They may be pushed away from feed by cows in their prime and settle for what hay is left and is likely of lower higher quality. The results of feeding young…
Winter; time to catch up on reading and sharpening the pencil and mind. I often talk about upcoming grazing conferences this time of year. Right now, meetings in person are scarce and perhaps rightly so. I still encourage you to continue learning whether it’s from watching YouTube videos, reading books or articles, or attending a virtual meeting or conference. It is also the time of year when I start thinking more about finding…
Steve Boyles, OSU Beef Extension Specialist Feeding a balanced diet to beef females in the last trimester of pregnancy through the breeding season is critical. Nutritional demands increase from early gestation to lactation. Reproduction has low priority among partitioning of nutrients for the subsequent pregnancy. Consequently, thin cows at calving typically remain thin because excess energy in the diet is directed to milk production first. The common theme is, at least for spring-calving…
Clif Little, OSU Extension Agriculture Natural Resources, Guernsey County (this article was originally appeared in Farm and Dairy) Stockpiled fescue with small round bales can be utilized for winter strip grazing. Photo by Clif Little Winter feed represents one of the largest components of annual cow cost. Approximately seventy five percent of the annual feed cost for cattle is winter feed. One way to increase the profit potential in the cow herd is to…
Mike Estadt, OSU Extension Educator, Pickaway County Do you know if your freezer beef customers are satisfied? It is well documented that early in the coronavirus pandemic, major meat processing facilities across the United States became supply bottlenecks due to employee infections shutting down production. In response to seeing less meat available in the retail case, or limits on the amount of proteins that a consumer could purchase, farm raised, direct marketed meat,…
Chris Teutsch, Associate Extension Professor, Forage Specialist, University of Kentucky Knowing the nutritional quality of forage and hay is an integral part of a profitable and efficient livestock operation. Accurate estimation of forage quality starts with obtaining a representative sample of the forage to be fed. Proper sampling technique is critical. Hay is preserved in a number of different packages ranging from the small square bale weighing 40-50 lb to the large square…
Dr. Michelle Arnold, UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Traditionally, many KY beef producers with winter/spring born feeder calves market through Special Graded Feeder Calf Sales held in the fall. At these sales, feeder cattle are graded according to the USDA Feeder Cattle Grading Standards, are weighed and sorted into groups (load lots of 48,000-50,000 lbs) and are then sold. Buyers take advantage of these sales to buy larger groups of feeder cattle with similar…
Garth Ruff, Field Specialist, Beef Cattle, OSU Extension (originally published in the Ohio Farmer) Growing Demand While 2020 has certainly been a challenging year for agriculture and especially those in the livestock business. However, direct to consumer meat sales have been a bright spot as a result of increased demand. Although a small percentage in the grand scheme of things, direct marketing of farm products has become a more popular route of merchandising livestock.…
Stephen Boyles, OSU Extension Beef Specialist Approximately 10 to 20 percent of the returns to a cow-calf operation are from selling cull cows in the fall. There are four factors that need to be considered to obtain profit from feeding cull cows. First, the cows have to be thin but healthy. Second, the buy/sell margin should be positive. Third, cost of gain should be relatively cheap. The odds of a profit are increased…
Dean Kreager, Licking County Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator (originally published in the Ohio Farmer) Early weaning can reduce daily forage consumption between 25 and 40%. Over the last couple of years, making hay in a timely manner has been nearly impossible. There just were not 3- or 4-day windows of dry weather without water standing in the fields. The result was a lot of poor-quality hay resulting in poor body condition scores of…