Ozarks Farm & Neighbor Newspaper – written for, by & about farmers

The Ozarks are not a big cattle feeding region. Missouri reported 687 farms and about 85,000 feedlot cattle in 2012, but that compares to over 26,000 feedlots and over 14 million cattle nationwide; most of the Missouri feedlots are in the northern part of the state. As of the 2012 Census of Agriculture, Arkansas had only 8 farms with a combined total of 235 cattle on feed; although that may have been a function of the drought, the 2007 Census only recorded 75 farms with 1,965 cattle on feed.

As feed prices have gone down and cattle prices have gone up, it’s become more attractive to consider creep feeding fall born calves. But be sure to crunch the numbers.

It’s time to get ready for spring calving, according to Dr. Tom Troxel, University of Arkansas professor of animal science. “This is a time for getting your cows a good, clean pasture,” Troxel told Ozarks Farm & Neighbor, adding it’s also a good idea to deworm your cows 30-45 days before calving. “It’s been shown that when cows calve, they shed a lot of internal parasites,” Troxel said. “If you deworm your cows prior to calving, that helps reduce the internal parasite load of your calves.”

Almost every farmer or rancher has encountered a situation where the body condition of their livestock begins to decline. This situation can be caused by several different factors – drought, poor quality forage, stress, or a tough winter, to name a few. When these or other circumstances arise, it can be assumed that this is a good time to implement a supplement program for your cattle. “Supplement implies you do not feel the ration being provided to an animal is sufficient to allow it to perform up to your expectations. Thus, you’ll need to add an ingredient or two in order to meet the nutritional needs of the animal,” said Eldon Cole, livestock specialist at the University of Missouri Extension. The first step in putting a supplement program into play is to evaluate the current nutrition being provided to the animal, followed by selecting the proper supplement and finally, making the supplement available to your herd.

The cattle industry has rarely seen better times than right now. The local stockyards lowest price at the last sale of 2014 was $127/cwt… for a Holstein 900 lb steer, a price that most of us would have been ecstatic to receive for the same black steer just a couple years ago. Feed costs are low – local cash prices for corn and soybeans are averaging $3.50/bu and $9.55/bu, respectively. A good summer left us with hay and stockpiled pasture. In fact, things are going so well, the pessimistic farmer in all of us is wondering when the other shoe is going to drop, and how hard. We all know the markets have to correct themselves at some time. So, how can we best take advantage of the industry environment right now? One option would be creep feeding.

Mason Hayes