Current Situation

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Surviving the Drought John Johns, Roy Burris and
Kenny Burdine University of Kentucky
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Surviving
The Drought
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Background

• High Corn Prices
• Scarce hay supply
• Drought
• Heat

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Impact on-

• Summer Grazing
• Winter Feed
• Water Supply
• Nitrates / Poisonous Plants

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What do I do to meet needs when forage quality is
not the issue but forage quantity is?DROUGHT!
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Assess Situation

• Inventory Cattle
• Inventory Feed Supply
• Do the numbers match?

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Animal Management Issues

• Pregnancy check, cull opens
• Cull older, lower producing cows
• Cull problem cows, disposition, arthritic, teat,
  udder and feet problems.

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Conduct a feed and animal inventory

• Use ASC-78 as a guide
• Group animals by their needs
• Compare how much feed is needed vs what is on hand

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Allocation of Hay to Various Classes of Cattle
Based on Quality

• Quality of Hay
• High
• Low

• Classes of Cattle
• Young Calves
• Weaned Calves
• Replacements
• Yearlings
• Bred Heifers
• 2-year old Cows
• Lactating Cows
• Mature Cows, last 1/3 of gestation
• Mature Bulls
• Mature Pregnant Cows, first 2/3 of gestation

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Nutritional Quality of Forages
Source Parish, Jane et al. 2007. Producer Guide
to Coping with Drought Conditions
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Approximate forage intake by beef cattle
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Are Alternatives Available on the Farm?

• Corn that will make little or no grain yield
• Chop it as silage
• Do not graze or roll it for hay due to nitrates
• Soybeans that will not set a bean
• Graze or roll as hay, prevent bloat if grazing
• Cut and roll when all leaves are still green

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Soybeans for Hay or Silage

• For silage, harvest at R6 stage
• May need to wilt after cutting
• Forage beans yield 3-4 tons/ac of DM
• Grain beans yield 2-3 tons/ac of DM
• Animals do not like the silage, eat 20 less than
  corn silage

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Soybeans for Hay or Silage

• Hay may need to be harvested at a little earlier
  stage
• Should be conditioned to crush stem or hard to
  cure
• If too mature at cutting, will lose bean due to
  conditioning
• May have feeding loss of up to 20 due to stem
  refusal

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Baling or Grazing Corn Stalks

• 120 bu corn 4 to 5 tons residue/acre
• Cows consume grain, leaves, husks, cobs, stalks
  in order
• 1 acre of stalks 30 days grazing/cow with
  mineral, protein supplementation
• Should be strip grazed
• Baling leaves much of the best (grain, leaves,
  husks) in the field

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Corn Stalks

• High Nitrates have been detected
• Low quality feed
• Requires protein and energy supplementation
• Considerable waste in feeding
• Stores poorly

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What is an Acre of Stalks Worth to Graze?
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Performance of Cows fed Baled Corn Stalks
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Cow Rations with Baled Corn Stalks
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Cow Rations with Baled Corn Stalks
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Gain of Stocker Cattle on Normal or Drought Corn
Silage
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Nutrient Analysis
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Baseline Assumptions
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Nutritional Needs
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What will it take?
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What will it cost?
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What can I pay for silage?

• Based on previous estimate, hay costs 142.65 per
  cow to winter
• How many tons of corn silage will it take to
  winter them?
• 3.06 tons
• You can pay 46.62 per ton of corn silage if hay
  is 100 per ton

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What can I pay for Corn Silage?
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If I need to buy feed, what should I buy, hay or
something else?
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Nutrient dense feeds such as grains, commodities,
etc., are cheaper per unit of nutrient compared
to hay. Be sure and compare on a dry matter
basis.
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Stretch Hay with Supplement

• Feed the hay on hand and buy supplement
• Corn will replace hay at the rate of 1.0 lb. Corn
  can replace 2.0 lb. of hay

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Alternative Feeds
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How much hay does a cow have to have daily?
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Limit fed Corn vs. Hay Rations for Cows, 3 Year
Summary
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Limit Feeding High Energy Rations for Growing
Cattle
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Economics of Corn vs. Hay to Cows
Assumes 130 day winter feeding period
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Assuming 130 Day Winter Feeding

• Corn based may be cheaper if hay price exceeds
  93 per ton
• Even if hay is cheaper, what is the goal
• Do we want to minimize costs, or maximize profit?
• What is the value of a 21 lb increase in weaning
  weight and a 7 increase in conception rate?

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Value of Increased Production
613 _at_ 100 / cwt, 634 _at_ 98 / cow
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What about by-products?
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Limitations

• Moisture content
• Nutrient profile
• Storage
• Contaminants

• Economics
• Availability
• Transportation

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Soy Hulls

• Excellent palatability
• Less starch content than grains therefore, less
  negative effect on forage utilization
• Safer, less incidence of founder

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Type of Energy Supplement and Gain of Steers on
Hay Based Rations
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Corn Gluten

• By-product of soft drink industry
• May be wet or dried
• Corn gluten feed is around 22-25 CP corn
  gluten meal is about 60 CP
• Low starch

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Corn Gluten Feed

• High level of Sulfur (around 0.6)
• Limit to 50 of DMI due to its high sulfur
  content (Cu deficiency and polio)

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Distillers Grain
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Distillers Grain (30CP)
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Storage of Wet Distillers Grains
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Challenges

• Transportation costs
• Equipment needs for handling and storage
• Rancidity

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Methods of Ensiling

• Silo Bags
• Bunker Silos
• Covered Piles

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Ensiling WDG With Soy Hulls
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Advantages of a 7030 Mixture (5050 DM basis)

• Reduces dust in soybean hulls
• Reduces seepage
• Decreases CP content to 21
• Maintains high energy values

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Ensiling WDG with Crop Residues

• On farm study
• Blended corn stalks with MWDG
• Blend was 60 DM
• Cool at bag opening
• Heated quickly

Garcia et al., 2004
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Recommendations

• DM of blends should be no more than 50
• Drier blends do not preserve as well
• Use of WDG over MWDG is preferred

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Commodity Rations for Limit Feeding Cows, Early
Winter
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Commodity Rations for Limit Feeding Cows, Late
Winter
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Meet the nutritional needs

• You must maintain body condition
• Calving
• Rebreeding

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Energy Deficiencies Affect

• Cow Rebreeding
• Calf Health/Survival
• Calf Growth Rate

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Energy Deficiencies Decrease Calf Survival
Through Lowered Immunoglobulin Transfer to Calf
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Timing of Deficiency Influences Effect

• Pre-calving deficiency ? days of post partum
  interval
• Post-calving deficiency ? conception

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BCS and Cow-calf Performance
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Limit Forage Consumption

• Supplement Forage
• Feed in Hay racks
• Utilize all hay before moving rack
• Delay feeding by 12 hours after roll eaten
• Move feeding area to reduce mud

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Rumensin for Wintering Cows

• 50 60 of total cost is winter feed
• Prevent and control coccidiosis
• Improved feed efficiency
• Feed in 1 lb of feed daily

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Cost per day on Purchased Hay
Cost of hay per ton
Disappearance per day
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Cost per day on Hulls / HaySubstituting Concept
(Late Winter)
Cost per ton of hay
Cost per ton of soy hulls
Ration 15 lbs soy hulls, 3 lbs grass hay
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Cost per day on Hulls / HayStretching Concept
(Late Winter)
Cost per ton of hay
Cost per ton of soy hulls
Ration 11 lbs soy hulls, 10 lbs grass hay, w/
protein block
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Cost per day on Stockpiled Fescue / Fall
Fertilization
Cost per lb of Nitrogen
Lbs of DM per lb of N
Note Considers only additional fescue production
from fertilizer (70 utilization)
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Restricting Hay Intake for Cows Nursing Calves
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Restricting Hay Intake for Cows in Last Trimester
of Gestation
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Savings from Limit Hay FeedingLactating Cows
Hay valued _at_ 100 per ton
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Savings from Limit Hay FeedingDry Cows
Hay valued _at_ 100 per ton
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Early Weaning of Calves

• Decreases nutrient needs of the cow
• Cheaper to feed calf than cow
• Calves as old as 50 days can be weaned
• Feed conversion 4 to 5 lbs/lb of gain
• Good health practices
• Must be able to reach feed and water

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Early Weaning Rations, 300 lb Calf, ADG 2.0 lbs
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Preconditioning Rations - Normal Wn. Weights
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Feed Price Assumptions
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Cost of Gain on Johns Rations
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Warning

• Consider all alternatives before you pay too much
  for poor-quality large round hay bales or other
  sources of roughage.

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Long Term Adjustment

• Store a surplus of hay (carry-over)
• Consider some warm season grass pasture
• Select cattle for reproductive efficiency
• Calving season

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QUESTIONS?