What I've Learned About Quality Pasture-Part whatever

In Alan Nation's book "Quality Pasture", he says that all pasture management starts with getting your breeding in sync with the pasture. In other words, you want to calf when the spring lush hits. It is a common practice that many cattlemen focus on February/March calving, counting on the high weight in the fall when it is time to sell. Generally weening at around 700/750 lbs. Research has shown that it is much more cost effective to ween earlier and grow the calve on grass. The same research says that calves gain more and faster when weened sooner and fed on grass. It seems that the general thought is that you leave them on momma longer so you get more, rapid gain then feed them on grain until sale time. This is expensive. Have you seen the price of grain lately?

Lightweight calves have lower body maintenance requirements and so produce more gain per acre of pasture than heavier calves. A much more efficient program would be an early spring calving in late March or early April. Think about it, how much surplus grass do you have in January and February?

If we believe that we are in the business of collecting and harvesting solar energy rather than producing beef or milk, then we need to look at getting the most gain per unit of plant energy and this will be seen as the key to making a better profit than average. Energy in forage is expressed as TDN (total digestible nutrients) and according to B.G. Ruffin of Auburn University, 58 % of the total TDN consumed in a 1100 lb. steer is consumed up to weening at eight months. The intermediate stage consumes only 15% and the finishing stage 25%. In other words, it takes over two and a half times the TDN to produce a pound of beef before weaning as it does after weaning because of the high body maintenance requirements of a lactating cow.

This information doesn't really fit our program, yet. But it is knowledge to store away and keep for later. Put it to memory and see if it fits your program, then re-think what you do because grain is not getting cheaper with Ethanol around. Grass is still the cheapest feed out there. It is what cattle were designed to eat, let them do the work and harvest your crop for you.

If you would like to learn more, check out Alan Nation's book "Quality Pasture" or go online and check out the Stockman Grass Farmer. You may use the links found at the right. Thanks.