This year, cattle producers in this region are likely to need winter feed supplements more than ever.
“There is hay available out there,” Dona Goede, southwest region livestock specialist at the University of Missouri Extension Service office in Cedar County, told Ozarks Farm & Neighbor. “But there are some estimates that we are fairly low in our hay supply.”
Goede said it’s important for producers to check the prices of supplements and calculate how much they’re paying per pound of energy or protein. “For instance, soy hull pellets have come down a little bit in price,” she said. However, until the new soybean harvest is complete, the price may not have found a bottom, and Goede said, “I’m not sure people want to go out and buy all of their feed needs right now. We really need to check to see where the prices are going to go this winter.”
The prices of many feedstuffs are rising. The issue is basically one of supply and demand – hay supplies are short; people need more hay, and corn was also sharply reduced by the drought. “We have had a little bit of a shift in input costs,” Goede said, “and that’s not just with feed. That’s with everything; you talk about fertilizer, fuel, you name it – prices have gone up. Fortunately, cattle prices have gone up, too. But we’re still not making a whole lot of money off of our cows, so people need to pay attention to how much they’re spending on those supplements.”
Dr. Dave Lalman, a professor of animal science at Oklahoma State University, had some suggestions for keeping track of the real cost of supplemental feed. “It’s tricky because it’s a moving target,” Lalman told OFN. He said the first step is to determine the nutritional value of your own feed resources. “If you’ve got feed hay, have it tested for protein, digestibility or energy,” Lalman said. “From there, go to either tabular values for an animal’s nutrient requirements, and those values are published in most Extension publications…or download a simple nutrition evaluation software program.” OSU’s program, “Cowculator,” takes the energy and protein value of the hay, matches it up against the requirements of an animal of a specific size, breed, etc., and tells you how much more you need from a supplement.
Lalman said the hay produced on OSU’s ranches was about one percentage unit lower than usual in protein, and two to three points lower in total digestible nutrients (TDN). However, he said, “A lot of people had to purchase low quality hay to fill their forage needs, so we’re reaching as far as we can into the low-quality end of the spectrum. At least in terms of protein, and in many cases in terms of energy, we’ll have to supplement those low quality forages.”
If a producer’s hay is below their protein requirements, they can look toward high protein oilseed meals like cottonseed meal or soybean meal, or dried distillers grain; all of those products can range from 30-50+ percent crude protein on a dry matter basis. “On the other hand,” said Lalman, “if the energy and protein value of the hay is borderline, then they would need to explore something that’s more moderate in protein, around the 15-30 percent range.” Those would include wheat midlings, barley malt sprouts and corn gluten feed.
