Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Farm & Home News

Like most of Arkansas, Nevada County has been experiencing some very hot and dry weather. Even though we received an adequate amount of rainfall during late spring, most will recall that we had a dry, late winter and early spring with below average rainfall for the fall and early winter of 1999. Therefore, even with the nice rains received in May and June, deep subsoil moisture is lacking.

Along with the decreasing amount of available forage to cattle hot weather stress can be very hard on beef cattle.

Listed below are some beef cattle management suggestions for dry weather conditions that have been compiled by Dr. George Davis, University of Arkansas, Extension Livestock specialist.

Provide a good water supply. Cattle require greater amounts of water during hot weather.

Check the herd routinely. Check for good health, body condition and soundness  eyes, feet, teeth, udder, etc.

Inventory feed resources. Estimate as accurately as possible the amount of hay available. Include crop residues or other sources of roughage. Check on the cost and availability of crop by-product feeds such as soybean hulls, corn gluten feed, whole cottonseed hulls, etc. If feed supplies are inadequate, consider alternative feeding and management options to most efficiently maintain the herd.

Cull the herd. Sell open cows, old cows, unsound cows (injured, diseased, pendulous udder, short or missing teeth, etc.), cows which produce lightweight calves, and late calving cows. Keep young, productive cows and the best replacement heifers and bulls.

Wean calves early. Cows nursing calves have about double the energy and protein needs of dry cows. Calves can be weaned as young as six to eight weeks of age and started on a complete ration. Young calves require a good quality feed with adequate levels of protein, TDN, minerals and vitamins. After calves are weaned cows can be maintained on a minimum amount of forage. Cows should be maintained in a moderate body condition. It's generally cheaper to feed the cow and calf separately than it is to feed the cow, which feeds the calf.

Creep feeding or creep grazing. If milk production declines, nursing calves receive inadequate nutrition to grow properly. Creep feeding or preferably creep grazing (which probably won't be available during droughts) may be used to maintain adequate calf gains. Calves usually prefer milk to grass so they will first take whatever milk is available and, therefore, nutrient needs of the cow aren't reduced by creep feeding or creep grazing.

Provide cattle on pasture supplemental feedstuffs. Hay is often the least expensive supplement to feed cattle on pasture. However, during periods of drought other feeds (grains, protein supplements, range cubes, etc.) may provide a cheaper source of nutrients.

Have forage tested and feed balanced rations. Efficiently utilize available forage by having it tested and balance rations to avoid overfeeding or under feeding mistakes.

Use appropriate feed additives. Monensin (Rumensin.) fed to beef cows, replacement heifers or stockers at the recommended levels will reduce hay or pasture requirements by about 10 percent. Lasalocid (Bovatec.) will improve feed efficiency in calves, replacement heifers and stockers.

Supply adequate minerals and vitamins. Nutrient needs for phosphorus and other minerals and vitamins should be met especially during periods of drought. Provide a good-free choice mineral-vitamin supplement year-round.

Consider poultry litter and other alternative feeds. Identify the cheapest sources of protein, energy and roughage for a given situation and then use those feeds to balance a ration for the cattle that must be fed. Broiler litter is usually preferred to turkey litter, but either may be used as a cheap source of protein and minerals for beef cattle if they are good quality and adequately processed.

Group cattle for feeding. Don't feed all cattle together in one group. Separate the herd into groups based on nutrient needs. Dry cows need less than cows nursing calves. Replacement heifers and first-calf heifers have higher requirements than mature cows. Distinct management groups of cattle in most beef herds are: (1) dry cows, (2) cows nursing calves, (3) first-calf heifers, (4) weanling replacement heifers, (5) bred yearling heifersm and (6) bulls.