Kansas State University and the Kansas Livestock Association have planned two field days to help cow-calf producers enhance their management strategies.
KLA/K-State Ranch Management Field Days are set for Aug. 10, 2023, hosted by Mushrush Red Angus of Strong City, KS, and Aug. 17 hosted by Carpenter Cattle Company of Brewster, KS. Continue reading “KLA/KSU Ranch Management Field Days Planned for August”
by Helen Giefer, ASI graduate student with KC Olson, ruminant nutritionist
While Caucasian and yellow bluestem – collectively referred to as old-world bluestems – continue to spread across the state of Kansas, promising new research may provide landowners with new hope for controlling the invasive species. Upon the discovery that late-summer prescribed fire (August 1 to September 21) successfully set back yellow bluestem, a similar study is now underway for Cacausian bluestem. Continue reading “Summer Burning Reduces Caucasian Bluestem Frequency”
Justin Waggoner, Ph.D., Beef Systems Specialist, Garden City
Weaning is our opportunity as cattle producers to prepare calves for the next phase of the beef production cycle. Regardless of if it is an early-weaned calf (less than 180 days of age), or an older calf. The goal of weaning is to produce a healthy calf that is comfortable without its dam, readily consumes feed and has successfully acclimated to a new environment. The primary barriers to this goal are the stressors experienced during weaning which are: 1) maternal separation 2) a new environment 3) unfamiliar feedstuffs and 4) reduced immune function resulting from the aforementioned stressors. There are several different management practices that may be implemented on an operation, depending on the resources available to more effectively prepare calves for weaning. A few of these practices are listed below. Continue reading “Feeding and Managing (Early) Weaned Calves”
Cassandra Olds, extension entomologist
The lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) is common tick found in Kansas which takes two years to complete development from egg to reproductive adult. Much of this time is spent off the animal host, sheltered in leaf litter particularly in shrubby areas. These areas provide a humid microcosm fundamental for tick survival. Prescribed or controlled burns are carried out to improve a number of rangeland conditions such as weed suppression and improve forage quality. Continue reading “Impact of Seasonal Rangeland Burning for Early Season Tick Control”
by Keith Harmoney, range scientist, Hays and Sandy Johnson, extension beef specialist, Colby
Ongoing drought has impacted many areas of Kansas and the Great Plains region. Producers are accustomed to adjusting for shorter term dry periods but less so with extended drought.
In response to numerous questions around this issue, Keith Harmoney, K-State Research and Extension range scientist at the Agricultural Research Center in Hays developed a decision tree that provides some guidelines given the pasture’s current soil moisture condition and the relative level of stress on the pasture last year. He discussed the use of this tool during a webinar “Decision Making For Grass Turnout in Western Kansas” presented on April 4th, 2023, that is now available for viewing on KSUBeef.org. A handout of the decision tree and other items are linked below the video. Continue reading “Decision Tree for Stocking Rate Adjustments Available”
Sandy Johnson, extension beef specialist, Colby
In an ideal world, each time a cow was inseminated (intentionally inseminated that is, this is an “ideal” world) it would result in a live and healthy calf. Unfortunately, even though fertilization rate is about 95 – 98%, by day 28 after mating, only 70 % are still pregnant and there are further losses before calving. While the significance of this loss is easy to see, research to reduce this loss is still hampered by the lack of a reliable early pregnancy test. Nevertheless, we can improve our understanding of factors that are known to contribute to embryonic loss and seek to minimize the impacts. Continue reading “Influence of Short-Term Nutritional Changes on Embryo Survival”
Jason Warner, extension cow-calf specialist and Dale Blasi, stocker, forages, nutrition and management specialist
Maintaining the delicate balance of cattle performance and rangeland health is part of the overall goal of managers each year. It becomes easier for these two components to become imbalanced during drought, with several consecutive years of overgrazing contributing to long-term negative consequences on rangeland productivity. While conditions certainly vary, much of the major beef cattle production areas of the central U.S. are in some degree of drought to start the 2023 growing season. Can strategic supplementation of a protein and energy source such as dried distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS) to cattle on grass mitigate the potential negative impacts of grazing in years following drought? Continue reading “Supplementation of Dried Distillers Grains to Yearling Heifers Grazing Native Range: A Potential Management Strategy During Drought”
by A.J. Tarpoff, DVM, MS, Beef Extension Veterinarian
Dry conditions that the central and southern plains have been experiencing may lead to increased foot issues. Several issues could be the culprit of cattle lameness, and we will review some of the common causes including the key differences between the clinical signs. It is a good idea to contact your local veterinarian to create a treatment plan for these conditions prior to the grazing season. Continue reading “Prepare Today to Combat Lameness this Grazing Season”
Dale Blasi, Stocker, Forages, Nutrition and Management specialist and Justin Waggoner, Beef Systems Specialist, Garden City
As the 2023 grazing season approaches, stocker operators might consider various strategies to protect their risks against the market and drought conditions.
If not already accomplished, producers are making their cattle purchase decisions for their intended pasturing needs. Based on historical stocking rates and the need to adjust according to existing pasture conditions from drought, producers will attempt to purchase the number as well as the size and type of the calf that can be “bought for the money.”
Producers who already have purchased calves for grass are either backgrounding calves in a holding pattern or minimally managing them on dormant winter grass in anticipation of the opportunity to exploit compensatory gain that can be realized when cattle are placed on actively growing native pastures in April or early May.
A research trial (Anglin et al., 2008) was conducted in 2007 at the KSU Beef Stocker Unit to evaluate the long-term effects of limit feeding on subsequent performance on native pasture. The takeaway from this trial was that limit-feeding 2.25% in the dry lot before going to grass decreased feed costs. Calves that were limit fed experienced higher daily gains during the subsequent grazing period at a lower cost per pound of gain. Calves limit-fed during the background phase gained 15 pounds more than the free-choice-fed steers.
There may be a 250 to 300 pounds range in the lightest to the heaviest calf in a set of calves going to grass. Under the prospects of rapidly diminishing forage production from drought, producers could consider pulling the heavier calves from the grass at midseason and going either to market or beating the rush of calves headed to feed yards. Over the years, KSU has evaluated this practice (Owensby et al., 2008; Harmoney and Jaeger, 2011 and 2015) and have concluded that this modification of intensive early stocking improves flexibility for drought conditions. If producers have the capability to individually weigh animals; identifying the heaviest cattle within a group (different tag color) prior to turnout will make gathering and removing these cattle from pastures considerably easier.
The consumption of self-fed mineral supplements should be closely monitored. Excessive consumption is often the result of the animal’s desire for additional salt. For example, if a complete mineral supplement costs around $500 with a labeled consumption of 4 ounces/head/day over 90 days, this calculated cost is about 5.63 dollars per head with no labor for pasture delivery included. If mineral consumption is excessive (6 ounces rather than the bag recommendation of 4), the actual cost will be $8.45/head.
If the value of gain is less than the cost of implementing a mineral supplementation program, producers may opt to provide only salt blocks. Previous research (Weibert et al., 2018) showed a reduction of daily gain of .1/lb/day when providing salt blocks vs. a complete mineral.