Pre-finishing management has lasting effects on feedyard performance, carcass weight and whole-system efficiency, said Paul Beck, Oklahoma State University beef cattle nutrition specialist, in a letter called Cow-Calf Corner.
Pasture-based stocker programs generally produce heavier finished cattle, larger ribeye areas and improved efficiency compared with dry-lot backgrounding, Beck said. Across segments of the beef industry, optimizing pre-finishing management, rather than simply increasing cow size, offers greater opportunity to enhance carcass output and overall profitability across the entire beef production system.
TRACKING RESULTS
Researchers are aware that previous genetic, nutrition and health management has a large effect on feedlot performance and profitability, carcass traits and consumer acceptability of beef, Beck said. To determine the effects of a backgrounding system and the level of performance during backgrounding on finishing performance and efficiency, researchers collected treatment means from multiple studies that tracked cattle from backgrounding through finishing.
Studied cattle that entered the feed yard from pasture averaged 824 pounds, while those from dry lots averaged 746 pounds, and final finished body weight was greater for calves backgrounded on pasture, he said. Increasing average daily gains on pasture also increased final body weight at harvest and hot carcass weights to a greater degree than increasing gains in dry-lot based growing systems.
Increasing average daily gain in dry-lot backgrounding systems decreased finishing performance to a much greater extent than increasing average daily gain in pasture-based stocker backgrounding systems, Beck said. Each pound increase in daily gain during dry-lot backgrounding decreased finishing average daily gain by 0.22 pound. A pound increase in backgrounding average daily gain on pasture only decreased finishing performance by 0.13 pound a day.
Cattle backgrounded on pasture had higher feed intake and reduced feed efficiency, which is related to the greater bodyweight entering the feedyard but potentially indicating that the high roughage diets on pasture resulted in increased GI capacity, he said. But feed efficiency is affected to a greater extent as gains of cattle backgrounded in dry-lot increase than for cattle backgrounded in pasture-based stocker systems.
Even with the heavier body weight entering the finishing phase, cattle from pasture backgrounding systems were on feed longer but increasing gains on pasture reduced finishing time on feed by 16 days for each additional pound in backgrounding average daily gain, while increased gains during dry-lot backgrounding did not influence days on feed during finishing.
LARGER RIBEYES VS MORE MARBLING
Additional gain in pasture-based backgrounding systems increased ribeye area where additional gain in dry-lot backgrounding systems reduced ribeye area, Beck said. In contrast, increasing backgrounding ADG in feedlot systems increased marbling score, while marbling score was not increased by additional ADG on pasture.
Calves entering the finishing phase after dry-lot backgrounding appeared to be fatter than calves backgrounded on pasture. This improved marbling and carcass quality reducing weight when slaughtered at the same degree of finish.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $245.55 per cwt to $250.45, compared with the previous week’s range of $235.00 to $248.29 per cwt. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $386.05 per cwt to $397.06, compared with $373.20 to $388.53.
The USDA choice cutout Wednesday was down $1.99 per cwt at $384.19 while select was down $3.87 at $383.33. The choice/select spread re-inverted to a plus $0.86 from a minus $1.02 with 110 loads of fabricated product and eight loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA-listed the weighted average wholesale price for fresh 90% lean beef as $456.86 per cwt, and 50% beef was $193.55.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.02 to $1.15 a bushel over the May corn contract, which settled at $4.54 1/4 a bushel, up $0.00 1/2.
No live cattle contracts were tendered for delivery Wednesday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Tuesday was $373.44 per cwt, down $0.93. This compares with Wednesday’s Apr contract settlement of $366.80, up $0.22.