Prospects for wheat pasture started well this fall with many areas getting late summer rains, but many wheat grazing areas did not get adequate rains for most of September and October, said Paul Beck, Beef Cattle Specialist, with Oklahoma State University.
Most of the wheat-grazing region got rains that likely will drive enough forage production on early planted wheat by mid-November or early December, Beck said. Later planted wheat or wheat that had not emerged probably will be delayed even with the latest precipitation.
WHAT’S TO BE DONE?
Stocking rates on wheat pasture in the fall and winter have large effects on calf performance and can influence pasture productivity during the spring, he said. Researchers have found that the maximum Average Daily Gain could be expected at 5.0 pounds of forage dry matter per pound of initial calf bodyweight, and if the initial forage allowance is restricted to 2.4 pounds, performance of around two pounds a day can be seen.
Using an average of about 200 pounds of forage per inch in plant height, wheat that is four inches tall (800 pounds of forage dry matter per acre) will require stocking rates of about 2.5 to 3 acres per 500-pound steer for adequate season-long performance, he said.
OSU research showed that providing a concentrate supplement (based on either corn or a soyhull/wheat middling blend) containing monensin at 0.65 to 0.75% of body weight (for example, 4 pounds per day for a 533-pound steer) increased potential stocking rate by 33% and weight gains by 0.3 pounds per day, Beck said. This supplementation program also can be used to “stretch” wheat forage when pastures are 60% to 80% of normal, allowing for “normal” stocking rates.
LOW-QUALITY ROUGHAGE
Intake of low-quality roughages is not high enough to offset wheat forage intake and can reduce performance of growing calves, Beck said. Research has shown that offering moderate- to high-quality roughages like corn silage or sorghum silage or round bale silages can be used to replace short wheat pasture or double stocking rates on wheat pastures.
Early research showed that feeding corn or sorghum silage daily to calves on wheat pasture allowed stocking rates to be increased by up to 2X without reducing steer performance, he said. Offering bermudagrass round bale silage to steers stocked at 1, 1.5 or 2 steers per acre with forage allowances going from 2.9 to 1.2 pounds of forage per pound of bodyweight. Offering round bale silage at the lowest stocking rate actually increased gains compared with steers at the same stocking rate without silage. As stocking rates increased, average daily gain decreased, but total gain per acre increased by 52%.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $183.72 per cwt to $187.04, compared with last week’s range of $184.00 to $189.69 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $290.70 per cwt to $293.67, compared with $289.71 to $296.04.
The USDA choice cutout Wednesday was down $3.00 per cwt at $302.18 while select was off $0.95 at $278.55. The choice/select spread narrowed to $23.63 from $25.68 with 97 loads of fabricated product and 39 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.25 to $1.38 a bushel over the Dec corn contract, which settled at $4.75 a bushel, down $0.03 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Tuesday was $237.25 per cwt, up $0.02. This compares with Wednesday’s Nov contract settlement of $238.57, up $0.87.