Month: April 2020

Pasture Rental Rates and the Price of Hay

– Clifton Martin, OSU Extension Educator, Muskingum County

Rental rates and hay prices are two questions quickly asked with potential lengthy answers.  Many factors will affect market prices both over time and regionally. This is a quick discussion to look at some ballpark ranges on how pasture rental rates can be determined.

Published in 1998, OSU Bulletin 872, Maximizing Fall and Winter Grazing of Beef Cows and Stocker Cattle, presents calculations using the rent per unit of livestock on a monthly basis using the formula animal weight per 1,000 lbs x hay price per ton x pasture quality factor.

Where Pasture Quality Factors are as follows:

0.12 = 0.12 unimproved condition
0.15 = 0.15 fair to good permanent pasture
0.18 = 0.18 very good permanent pasture
0.20 = excellent meadow (grass/legume)
0.22 = lush legume pasture

The example in Bulletin 872 uses a Continue reading Pasture Rental Rates and the Price of Hay →

Pasture Turnout; Wait, not yet!

– Victor Shelton, NRCS State Agronomist/Grazing Specialist

There’s new green grass; can we, should we, start grazing?

Yes, there is green grass. Yes, both you and the livestock are more than eager to utilize it. Yes, you both should wait before grazing it.

It is one of the hardest times of the season for some people, me included. We are tired of mud and tired of feeding hay. There is an increasing amount of fresh new lush green grass beckoning to be grazed. Why shouldn’t you allow the cows to partake in this new growth? When is the ideal time to start grazing?

Let’s think this over a little. What is the real problem with grazing too early? Forages have just woken up from a long winter’s nap. New growth comes from energy reserves stored in the roots and lower shoots; that early growth does not come from photosynthesis. Plants must make their own food. That process is called photosynthesis the production of carbohydrates from carbon dioxide, water and sunlight. The process creates sugars and oxygen. Early growth is not supported by Continue reading Pasture Turnout; Wait, not yet! →

Beef Heifer Development series posted on-line

Heifers retained this year will impact the economic performance of the herd for at least the next decade!

A six part presentation series discussing management strategies surrounding Beef Heifer Development has been posted on-line in the OSU Extension Beef Team Resource Library page.

Most beef producers replace 10-20% of their mature cows each year with heifers. The unique challenge that each cow/calf producer is faced with is that they are anticipating the future biological and economic performance of their herd for perhaps the next decade when replacement heifers are selected. Thus, each management decision made during the development phase of a beef replacement heifer will impact profitability for years to come.

In the six video presentations housed on the Beef Heifer Development page, OSU Extension Beef Specialist Steve Boyles details management strategies and considerations as replacement heifers are bred for, selected, developed, bred themselves, and ultimately re-bred for the first time.

The series of video presentations as well as the written PDF versions can be reached at your leisure directly through the Beef Heifer Development page.

“Don’t buy the cheapest mineral out there”

The mineral content of forages is always a concern when feeding the brood cow, but it’s of even greater concern after wet weather and rapid forage growth like that which was experienced the past two springs and early summers. In this 4 minute excerpt from the 2020 Ohio Beef Cow/Calf Workshop, Dr. Francis Fluharty explains the benefits, and also his concerns for feeding the cow herd highly digestible minerals in the appropriate amounts.

Cattle Market Update; March 27 – April 2, 2020

– Dr. Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky

Another week and another set of swings in cattle markets. Everything that I have said previously still applies in that the volatile nature of these markets is causing prices to change constantly. This is my attempt to summarize the most recent weekly USDA-AMS price data for Kentucky, which is based on auctions from March 27th through April 2nd. Understand that by early next week, things could be very different.

As was largely expected, Kentucky cattle markets were unable to hold their gains from last week. The number of cattle sold increased substantially, which was no doubt part of the reason for the declines, but the larger issue is that the market continues to struggle with factoring in changes in demand and potential impacts on the supply chain. It’s also worth noting that both live cattle and feeder cattle futures saw limit down movements on April 1st and 2nd, the two days prior to me writing this update. So, we will enter next week with a bearish tone because of this.

For the current week, calf prices were only off slightly, which can be seen in the black line in figure 1. I think they are clearly being helped by spring grass demand. CME© feeder cattle futures prices for fall 2020 have dropped by more than Continue reading Cattle Market Update; March 27 – April 2, 2020 →

Weekly Livestock Comments for April 3, 2020

– Dr. Andrew Griffith, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee

FED CATTLE: Fed cattle traded $8 to $9 low-er than last week on a live basis. Prices on a live basis were mainly $110 to $112 while dressed prices were mostly $178 to $179.

The 5-area weighted average prices thru Thursday were $111.08 live, down $8.36 compared to last week and $178.78 dressed, down $10.53 from a week ago. A year ago, prices were $124.43 live and $204.03 dressed.

Last week’s prices were wildly higher and this week’s prices are wildly lower. Actually, the wild erratic price movements have even been occurring from day to day. The unknowns of the coronavirus are enough to result in huge price swings in the market but those movements would still imply market efficiency. Where the inefficiency comes in is when government officials begin telling people what to do and how to act and the market is hit on the south end by a north bound train which provides whiplash. Technically, the market is still acting as efficiently as it can, but there are cattle producers being caught in the whip-lash. There is no way of Continue reading Weekly Livestock Comments for April 3, 2020 →

On Farm Biosecurity to Keep Us and Employees Safe

– Jason Hartschuh, Extension Educator, Crawford County; and Dr. Gustavo Schuenemann, Extension Dairy Veterinarian, The Ohio State University Extension (originally published in the Buckeye Dairy News)

Agriculture is no stranger to contagious disease. Drawing on sanitation experiences from outbreaks, such as avian and swine influenza or the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001, can help us through the current pandemic. Looking back at many of these experiences, we know that we can pull together maybe from a distance and get through the current human viral outbreak and keep our farms running. Unless they are sick, farmers don’t usually tell their workers to stay home, but through keeping social distance on the farm and increasing many of our tried and true disinfection protocols, we can all stay healthy.  One big difference is that instead of disinfecting our boots, we need to disinfect all surfaces around us and all our employees touch. This may also be a good time to review the visitation requirements you have on your farm. To keep you and your service providers safe, be sure to . . .

Continue reading On Farm Biosecurity to Keep Us and Employees Safe

The Calving Stall

– Steve Boyles, OSU Beef Extension Specialist

Most modern cattlemen have some type of facility for holding or restraining cattle that need assistance at calving. This stall need not be elaborate or expensive, but it should be handy and useful. This article sets forth some of the things to consider before installing such a stall or for evaluating your present facility.

The objective of a calving stall is to provide an environment that is safe and useful to you and your veterinarian when assisting at calving. This stall will generally pay for itself in short order in calves saved and cows treated properly and promptly. Some of the tasks made easier with a calving stall include performing cesarean sections, cleaning a retained placenta, assisting calves presented for birth in the wrong position, milking out cows, fostering calves and medicating cows requiring follow-up treatments. It allows the producer to quickly estimate the situation and take appropriate action on their own or with professional help.

A good calving stall should meet the following Continue reading The Calving Stall →

The economic benefits of a defined, 90 day or less, calving season

Anytime an Extension beef cattle specialist suggests a cow herd is most profitable when there is a well defined calving season as opposed to leaving the bull in and calving year around, it’s not uncommon for the response to be disbelief. During the 2020 Ohio Beef Cow/Calf Workshop, Dr. Les Anderson responded in this 4 minute clip to that debate regarding the economic benefits of a calving season of 90 days or less. The data he shares is compelling!

Cattle Market Update – March 27, 2020

– Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky

As I mentioned last week, I want to send out a short weekly update on our cattle markets for the near term. Things are very volatile and are moving very fast, so I think more frequent communication is probably better right now. USDA-AMS sends the Kentucky weekly livestock summary out on Friday, which really includes sales from the previous Friday to Thursday (the day before). This summary is based on sales from March 20-26.

While I try to follow daily reports from across the state, I typically view those mostly anecdotally. I feel more comfortable sharing weekly summary data that compiles a large number of cattle sales. But, this can also be misleading when markets are moving quickly as prices can be very different from early week sales to late week sales. Last week was a good example as markets were down sharply, but showed quite a bit of improvement in the second half of the week. That strength continued into this week and summaries are showing huge improvements. Prices rallied across the board at Kentucky auctions. Virtually every category is quite a bit higher – calves, feeders, cows, and bulls. To be honest, I send this out with some hesitation as I am afraid it overstates the improvement in the market and may not Continue reading Cattle Market Update – March 27, 2020 →