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Beef Tips

Category: Feedlot Facts

Cold Stress Increases Energy Requirements

Posted on by Angie Denton

Justin Waggoner, KSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, Garden City, KS

Cattle are most comfortable within the thermonuetral zone when temperatures are neither too warm nor cold. During the winter months cattle experience cold stress anytime the effective ambient temperature, which takes into account wind chill, humidity, etc., drops below the lower critical temperature. The lower critical temperature is influenced by both environmental and animal factors including hair coat and tissue insulation (body condition). The table below lists the estimated lower critical temperatures of cattle in good body condition with
different hair coats. In wet conditions, cattle can begin experiencing cold stress at 59°F, which would be a relatively mild winter day. However, if cattle have time to develop a sufficient winter coat, the estimated lower critical temperature under dry conditions is 18°F. Cold stress increases maintenance energy approximately 1% for each degree below the lower critical temperature, but does not impact protein, mineral, or vitamin requirements. Thus, maintenance energy requirements of cattle may increase by 15-20% on those exceptionally
cold and windy days that commonly occur in January and February. Increased maintenance energy requirements essentially means that less energy is available for production (gain), which translates to lower ADG, increased Feed:Gain, and greater Days on Feed.

 

 

 

For more information, contact Justin Waggoner at jwaggon@ksu.edu

Historical Perspective on Feedlot Exit/Market Weights

Posted on by Angie Denton

Justin Waggoner, KSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, Garden City, KS

Currently, one of the common discussion items in the feedlot industry is cattle exit weights. Feedyard managers have continued to market both steers and heifers at greater exit weights in recent months. Data from the October 2024, K-State Focus on Feedlots reported an average final weight 1497 lbs. for steers and 1342 lbs. for heifers. The recent increase in marketing cattle at greater exits weights has been attributed to feedlot managers retaining cattle on feed longer as a means of managing cattle inventories.
Continue reading “Historical Perspective on Feedlot Exit/Market Weights” →

Body Condition Scoring — A Herd Management Tool

Posted on by Angie Denton

by Justin Waggoner, KSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, Garden City, KS

Body Condition Scoring is one of the most valuable management tools at the disposal of the cattle manager. The number associated with a condition score gives us a direct indication of a cow’s previous plane of nutrition and future
reproductive capability. Although the individual body condition scores are important. We don’t manage individual cows, we manage groups of cows. Thus, it is important for us to look beyond the individual scores and look at the distribution of body condition scores within the herd. Continue reading “Body Condition Scoring — A Herd Management Tool” →

Starting Newly Weaned Calves

Posted on by Angie Denton

by Justin Waggoner, KSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, Garden City, KS

One of the greatest challenges cattle producers often experience during weaning is getting newly weaned calves to consume feed in bunk. Unfortunately, successfully addressing this challenge is essential to success. Simply stated,
“Cattle that don’t eat don’t perform.” Preparing calves, understanding how much dry feed calves will likely consume and developing a feeding strategy/plan is one of the best ways to ensure success in the weaning pen.

Feeding both cows and calves a small amount of the supplement or weaning ration prior to weaning, in the weaning pen or pasture can be used help acclimate calves to both the feeds and the environment. Additionally, feed intake of weaned
calves is often low (1.0 to 1.5% of bodyweight, dry basis) immediately following weaning. Calves also have relatively high nutrient requirements. Thus, the weaning diet must be nutrient dense to meet the nutrient requirements of the calves at the expected intakes previously mentioned. Unfortunately, the dry feeds calves are often most familiar with (typically grass hays) are not necessarily nutrient dense. At the K-State Agriculture Research Center, Hays, KS, a feeding
management protocol for weaning calves has been developed that works well for transitioning weaned calves to a total mixed ration. The protocol is summarized in the table below. Essentially, high-quality grass hay and the weaning ration
are offered each at 0.5% of the calves’ current bodyweight, dry basis, on the day of weaning. The weaning ration is placed in the bottom of the bunk and the hay is placed on top. The amount the weaning ration is steadily increased, while the
amount of hay offered remains constant. In addition, on day 4 the hay is placed on the bottom of the bunk. Over a period of 7-10 days the dry intake of the calves is steadily increased and should reach approximately 2.2-2.5% of the calves bodyweight by 10-14 days following weaning.


For more information, contact Justin Waggoner at jwaggon@ksu.edu

Marketing Calves

Posted on by Angie Denton

by Justin Waggoner, KSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, Garden City, KS

It’s time to start thinking about our management and marketing strategies for this year’s spring calf crop. Margins in the cattle industry and agriculture are often unfortunately narrow (even with projections of record-setting high calf prices). Therefore, I would offer that maximizing calf revenue is important for cow/calf producers every year. Calf revenue from my academic perspective is driven by 3 factors, 1.) the number of calves sold, 2.) sale weight of calves and 3.) price received. Continue reading “Marketing Calves” →

Focus on Feedlots: Cattle Performance in 2023

Posted on by Angie Denton

The K-State Focus on Feedlots is a monthly publication that summarizes feedlot performance and closeout data from cooperating commercial cattle feeding operations in Kansas. Each year, I summarize the data from the monthly reports, in an effort to document annual fed cattle performance and cost of gain. The tables below summarizes the average performance and closeout data reported for steers and heifers in 2023.

 

 

 

 

The monthly reports from the K-State Focus on Feedlots may be
accessed at https://www.asi.k-state.edu/about/newsletters/focus-on-feedlots/ or if you wish to subscribe to the monthly email distribution list please email jwaggon@ksu.edu.

For more information, contact Justin Waggoner at jwaggon@ksu.edu

Mineral Supplement Selection Tips

Posted on by Jessica Jensen

One of the challenges cattle producers face is determining which mineral supplement they will use during the upcoming grazing season. Often this decision is based on the information provided on the mineral tag and price sheet. Although, price is an important consideration, other factors such as the concentrations of the minerals in the mix relative to the animals’ requirements and sources of minerals used should be considered.

The first step in selecting a mineral supplement is to know what you are shopping for. Mineral mixes are often categorized based on the concentration of phosphorous in the mineral mix. Phosphorous is often deficient in cattle consuming forage-based diets and is our first priority in developing mineral supplements for grazing cattle. The amount of phosphorous required in a mineral mix to meet the requirements of a cowherd is a function of forage phosphorous content (determined via forage mineral analysis) and animal requirements, which are driven by mature body weight and production stage. A mineral mix that contains 6 to 10% Phosphorous would be adequate in many situations.

The next step is to spend some time reading the mineral tag. The guaranteed analysis section of the tag guarantees the concentration of the minerals listed. In general, the more guarantees the better, and if a mineral is not listed then it is not guaranteed to be in the mineral. The sources of the minerals used in the mix also warrant consideration as mineral sources differ in bio- availability (Table 1). For example copper sulfate is 100% available to the animal, whereas copper oxide is unavailable.

For more information about mineral supplementation, see “Questions and Answers on Beef Cattle Nutrition (http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/c733.pdf).

For more information, contact Justin Waggoner at jwaggon@ksu.edu

What’s in Feedlot Diet

Posted on by Jessica Jensen

The commercial cattle feeding industry is incredibly diverse in many ways. A recent survey of consulting nutritionists conducted by Samuelson et al., (2016) gives us some insight into the feeding and management practices of the cattle feeding industry. This survey summarized responses from 24 consulting nutritionists that service in excess of 14 million cattle annually. As expected the primary grain used in both receiving and finishing diets was corn. However, the most commonly reported secondary grain used was wheat. The most common processing methods were steam-flaking and dry-rolling. The typical grain inclusion was 60% or less for receiving diets and 34.8% of the respondents reported an inclusion of 60-70% grain in finishing diets with a range of 50-90%. The reported range in grain inclusion of finishing rations is likely attributed to the use of byproduct feedstuffs. The most commonly used byproduct in both receiving and finishing rations was wet distiller’s grain. Alfalfa was the most common roughage source used in receiving diets (58.5% of responses). In finishing diets corn silage was the primary roughage source used (37.5% of responses), followed by corn stalks (29.2% of responses) and alfalfa (20.8% of respondents). The majority of nutritionists in the survey recommend an energy content 0.68-0.70 Mcal/lb of Net Energy for gain and 13.4% crude protein in the finishing ration.

For more information, contact Justin Waggoner at jwaggon@ksu.edu

Mineral Supplement Selection for the Cow Herd

Posted on by Jessica Jensen

Although, the upcoming grazing season may be hard to picture at this point, it’s not too early to begin making preparations. Among those preparations is selecting a mineral supplement, especially for those operations that are looking to take advantage of “early booking” discounts for mineral orders. It can be challenging to select a mineral program, as there are many different products and mineral formulations currently available. When evaluating mineral supplements the phosphorous concentration may be used as a basic guide to determine if the mineral fits the production stage of the herd and forage base. Phosphorous is one of the most common mineral deficiencies in grazing systems around the world and is one of the primary reasons we provide mineral supplements to grazing beef cattle. The table below illustrates the amount of phosphorous required in a mineral supplement required for cattle at various production stages consuming forages with different phosphorous concentrations. Forage phosphorous concentrations vary and are typically greatest during the spring and lowest in the winter. In Kansas, phosphorous content of native range during the grazing season is typically between 0.15 and 0.20%. Thus, the maintenance requirements of lactating cow (20 lbs milk/d) could be met by a mineral with at least 8% phosphorous (average of 6 and 10 in the table).

For more information, contact Justin Waggoner at jwaggon@ksu.edu

Cold Stress Impacts and Resources

Posted on by Jessica Jensen

The New Year often brings with it some of the coldest months of the year.

Cattle are most comfortable within the thermonuetral zone when temperatures are neither too warm nor cold. During the winter months cattle experience cold stress anytime the effective ambient temperature, which takes into account wind chill, humidity, etc., drops below the lower critical temperature. The lower critical temperature is influenced by both environmental and animal factors including hair coat and tissue insulation (body condition). The table below lists the estimated lower critical temperatures of cattle in good body condition with different hair coats. In wet conditions cattle can begin experiencing cold stress at 59°F, which would be a relatively mild winter day. However, if cattle have time to develop a sufficient winter coat the estimated lower critical temperature under dry conditions is 18°F. Cold stress increases maintenance energy approximately 1% for each degree below the lower critical temperature, but does not impact protein, mineral or vitamin requirements. Thus, maintenance energy requirements of cattle may increase by 15-20% on those exceptionally cold and windy days that commonly occur in January and February. Increased maintenance energy requirements essentially means that less energy is available for production (gain), which translates to lower ADG, increased Feed:Gain, and greater Days on Feed.

The Kansas State University Mesonet now has an animal comfort feature that provides an index of animal comfort (heat and cold stress) for current condition as well as 7-day forecast. The Mesonet allows users to see both statewide maps and select specific weather stations across the state. The animal comfort page of the Kansas Mesonet may be accessed at https://mesonet.k-state.edu/agriculture/animal/current/.

For more information, contact Justin Waggoner at jwaggon@ksu.edu