BEEF HERD HEALTH

By W. Mark Hilton, DVM

 A recent research project at Kansas State University addressed the question “Where is the best place to spend money in a beef business?” While study after study shows that decreasing the cost of production by saving money is the highest priority, we know there are limits to cutting costs.

In the KSU study, the highest return on investment was on improving the pasture that the cows graze. When I taught at Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, we had an Advanced Beef Production Medicine class that was open to fourth-year veterinary students from across the country. We performed herd consultation visits with herdowners that were a part of our Integrated 

Resource Management (IRM) Program and at the end of the three weeks, the students filled out a questionnaire assessing the class. Every year, the most common answer to the question, “What most surprised you about the class?” was “How much time we spent talking about grass!”

I had previously polled the 30 herd owners on the IRM Program and asked them, “Since joining the IRM program, what change that you have made in your beef business has made you the most profit?” The overwhelming response was “Having __________ (fill in the blank) come and do a pasture walk with us and give us recommendations to improve our grazing land.” One owner noted that they had increased carrying capacity by 30 percent AND increased grazing days AND fed less hay than before the grazing expert came to their farm. Others noted a huge decrease in fertilizer and herbicide costs.

If you have never had a forage expert come to your farm to help you improve your pastures, you need to do this. We are very fortunate in the Midwest to have a plethora of experts that will come to your farm for an evaluation. Sources we have utilized include state extension forage specialists, county extension educators, National Resources Conservation Service employees, forage seed supplier employees and private grazing consultants.

I did a Google search of “Management-intensive Grazing” and there were thousands of articles. It seems there are an equal number of YouTube videos available. These are great places to start, but having someone come and physically evaluate your farm and give you a customized grazing plan is the most impactful step you can take.

When I was a student at Purdue, I heard from numerous upperclassmen that Dr. Chuck Rhykerd’s class “Forages and forage management” was an absolute for anyone that planned to work with grazing animals. The concepts of “rotational grazing” and “frost seeding of red clover” were quickly adopted on our family farm and my father often said, “The class Mark took on pasture management 

was the best money I ever spent at Purdue University.” We were able to add cows without adding any land and we grazed longer into the fall because of the changes we made based on Dr. Rhykerd’s class.

If you add more cows to your beef business without buying or renting more land, all your fixed costs are now reduced on a per cow basis so your cost of production decreases.

Grazing longer and feeding less hay is always cost-effective. In fact, when we did our IRM herd consultation visits, the student in charge of environment always asked the owner, “Would you like to extend the grazing season?” The answer in 100 percent of the cases was “Yes!”

If you have ever been to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Environmental 

Stewardship Award Program, you will hear each of the winners in some fashion affirm that their goal is to leave the land in better condition for the next generations of their family than they found it. They often praise the experts that have been instrumental in helping them improve their land.

Cattlemen are the original environmentalists and having someone that sees hundreds of farms give advice on how to continue that legacy is invaluable.

Sometimes improving profitability in the beef business means spending some money rather than saving some money. Having a forage specialist come to your farm to develop a customized plan that will help you increase cow numbers without adding land, extend the grazing season, feed less hay and improve the soil needs to be a high priority for you and your beef business.