Fall seeding forages has multiple advantages that can be adventitious for forage managers. In this episode of Forage Focus, OSU Extension Educator Christine Gelley visits with the staff of the Noble County Soil and Water Conservation District about fall seeding options and tools. Dave Schott and Jessie Radcliff discuss the reasons to consider fall seeding, potential methods, trouble shooting, and the use of no-till drills for forages. Christine explains the process and importance of calibrating your drill to increase chances for success.
Month: July 2020
Short-Season Forages for Late Summer Planting
– Mark Sulc, Extension Forage Agronomist and Bill Weiss, Extension Dairy Nutritionist
Early November growth of Italian ryegrass (left) and oat+winter rye (right) after mid-September planting in Ohio
Short-season forages planted in late summer can be sources of highly digestible fiber in ruminant livestock rations. There are several excellent forage options that can be considered for no-till or conventional tillage plantings in the late summer or early fall planting window. These forages can be a planned component of the overall forage production plan. They can be utilized on land that would otherwise sit idle until next spring, such as following wheat or an early corn silage harvest.
Oat or Spring Triticale silage
These cereal forages can be planted for silage beginning the last week of July and into early September. Dry matter yields of 1.5 to 3 tons per acre (about 5 to 5.5 tons at 30 to 35% DM) of chopped silage are possible if Continue reading
Weekly Livestock Comments for July 17, 2020
– Dr. Andrew Griffith, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee
FED CATTLE: Fed cattle traded steady compared to last week on a live basis. Prices on a live basis were primarily $95 to $97 while dressed prices mainly $157 to $158.
The 5-area weighted average prices thru Thursday were $96.32 live, up $0.35 com-pared to last week and $157.58 dressed, down $0.09 from a week ago. A year ago, prices were $113.02 live and $182.97 dressed.
The cash market and the futures market are providing a little optimism for the fall finished cattle market. The October live cattle futures contract has gained $6 since the beginning of July while the December live cattle contract has gained about $5.50 over that same time frame. These prices still do not put finished cattle where cattle feeders want them, but there is a lot of time between now and the fall marketing time period for cattle to keep creeping higher. Another point of optimism is the fact that Continue reading
Could early weaning increase your profits?
– 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 cows coming out of the winter. This year, hay production has started out much better for most people. We had a couple nice dry periods in late May and early June that allowed baling of good quality hay. The issue this year is quantity. Many people are reporting reductions of 30 to 50% in tonnage of first cutting hay. There are probably two factors that are causing this. First the cold weather and numerous frost and freeze events in April and May slowed the hay down growth. Much of the alfalfa was at a bud stage on the first of June instead of flowering. This likely helped the quality but hurt the quantity. The second factor is that we simply would expect less hay when it is baled at the beginning of June than the end of June. Time will tell whether the season long hay production remains low or if second and third cuttings make up the difference.
It is never too early to plan. There are options to consider to be sure enough forage will be available for the winter. This comes down to either Continue reading
Supplementing to Stretch Pastures
– Jeff Lehmkuhler, PhD, PAS Associate Extension Professor, University of Kentucky
Drought continues to impact the high plains area stretching down to the pan handle of Texas. The dry conditions will continue to impact pastures potentially lowering beef cattle numbers at year’s end. The recent high temperatures and limited rain will dry out pastures and limit forage regrowth on recently cut hay fields here in the Commonwealth. As forage growth slows, supplementation may be needed to provide beef cattle adequate levels of nutrients to support target production levels and limit condition loss of lactating cows.
Fibrous coproduct feedstuffs that are low in starch but high digestible fiber work well for supplementingcattle on a high forage diet. Soybean hulls, corn gluten feed, beet pulp, distillers grains, wheat midds, and rice bran are a few commonly available feedstuffs that would be lower in starch and high digestible fiber. These feedstuffs would be higher in available energy than most pasture forages that are going or already dormant. Depending on the maturity and digestibility of the forages, supplements could provide twice as much energy on a dry weight basis. Therefore, supplementation would need to be limited and not offered free-choice to avoid over conditioning as well as to avoid digestive upsets.
Cottonseed hulls are lower in digestible energy than the supplements listed above and most cool-season forages. Cottonseed hulls would be deemed as more of a forage replacement than a supplement. The crude protein value is Continue reading
Utilizing Cover Crops as Livestock Forage
Utilizing cover crops as forage not only provides feedstuffs for meeting the nutritional needs of livestock, but also offers soil health benefits. In this presentation originally offered during the COVID-19 quarantine period in April, 2020, OSU Extension Educator Christine Gelley discusses cover crop forage selection, seeding, management and harvest opportunities.
Beating the Heat – Tips for Dealing with Heat Stress
– Dr. Katie VanValin, Assistant Extension Professor, University of Kentucky
Heat stress is a problem that can affect cattle throughout the United States. However, in Kentucky and across the southeast cattle are at risk for experiencing more frequent and severe heat stress events than in other regions of the country. Heat stress occurs when cattle cannot dissipate or get rid of excess heat, and there are a multitude of factors that can impact how susceptible an individual animal is to heat stress. These factors include things such as breed, stage of production, age, and hair coat color which can make it difficult to predict an animal’s susceptibility to heat stress. Heat stress results in decreased growth and reproductive performance and in severe cases even death; thus, it is not a problem that should be overlooked.
Cattle can be particularly susceptible to heat stress compared to other species because they are unable to sweat effectively, which means they rely on respiration to try and dissipate heat. Thus, a common sign that cattle are experiencing heat stress is excessive panting and increased respiratory rate. Furthermore, the cattle GI tract features the rumen, a large fermentation vat. While the rumen is what allows cattle to take human inedible protein and convert it to human edible protein in the form of beef or milk, this process also generates heat that the animal must dissipate. It is thought that this might be partially responsible for the Continue reading
Weekly Livestock Comments for July 10, 2020
– Dr. Andrew Griffith, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee
FED CATTLE: Fed cattle traded $1 higher compared to last week on a live basis. Prices on a live basis were primarily $95 to $96 while dressed prices mainly $157 to $158.
The 5-area weighted average prices thru Thursday were $95.97 live, up $1.06 com-pared to last week and $157.67 dressed, up $3.84 from a week ago. A year ago, prices were $114.64 live and $183.06 dressed.
Feeding cattle is like being in ankle deep manure, but standing on one’s head would be worse. Finished cattle prices continue to hang around their lows, but the futures market is producing a little optimism. The optimism may not be much, but any is a good thing for cattle feeders. The August live cattle contract is attempting to get back to $100 while the October and December contracts are trading well above that mark. The reason this is optimistic is because there is nothing in the cattle feeders favor right now. Coronavirus hit the market hard. Now the seasonal tendencies of finished cattle prices are weighing on the market. On top of what is going on in the cattle market, corn futures prices have increased even though Continue reading
Kentucky Beef Cattle Market Update
– Dr. Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky
The general negative trend in cattle markets has continued over the last four weeks. For the last full week of June, federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated above year-ago levels for the first time since early April. This simply has to continue if we want to work through the backlog of cattle in the system that resulted from several weeks of greatly reduced harvest. However, I do want to put this increase in perspective. For the last week of June, slaughter was estimated to be 1.4% above 2019 levels. This compares to slaughter being down 35% from 2019 levels at its lowest point this spring and down more than 20% for five straight weeks from mid-April to mid-May. Simply put, increases in slaughter are encouraging, but it is going to take a lot of time to get caught up.
I am writing this on July 3rd, and it appears that fed cattle are going to trade around $95 per cwt for the week. Current fed cattle prices shouldn’t fundamentally impact current feeder cattle prices, but I do think the sharp drop over the last several weeks is putting a damper on prices across the board. Winter CME© live cattle futures should be driving current feeder cattle prices and they have dropped way less than cash prices, which does give me some reason for optimism as we move towards fall.
Stockyard receipts were light this week, probably due to the holiday week. But Kentucky cattle prices were down across the board. Calf prices were down again, but not by a great deal. Over the last four weeks, the state average price of a 550 lb M/L #1-2 steers is Continue reading
COVID Disruptions are Passing and Drought Impacts are Emerging
– Stephen R. Koontz, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University
The COVID impacts on cattle and beef markets are not all behind us but the majority of the disruptions appear to have passed. The exceptions are, and that will remain for some time, the cattle on feed inventories, the number of long-fed cattle, and fed animal slaughter weights. Details on the cattle on feedstocks and flows for last month will have to wait until two weeks. Beef cut prices have returned to normal levels with tenderloins being rather weak. Fed steer and heifer slaughter volumes have returned to strong levels and the Saturday kill is very comparable to last year’s high values. Packer margins remain rather strong, but are well off of record highs, and are being realized as plants are back to operating at or close to full capacity.
Of course, the fed cattle complex remains in a bind. Fed cattle prices are below $100 per cwt. Fed animal slaughter weights were roughly 50 pounds above last year’s seasonal low. But last year’s weights will increase through November and the current year is holding steady just below last year’s peak. The supply scenario is usually difficult this time of year with gradual declines in numbers but higher animal weights. And that difficult scenario is usually on the tail of market opportunities in the spring. The disruptions this year eliminated the Continue reading