DECISION TREE: OPTIONS FOR MANAGEMENT OF COWS AND CALVES DURING DROUGHT Jaymelynn Farney, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Animal Sciences and Industry Chris Reinhardt, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Animal Sciences and Industry Glynn Tonsor, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Agricultural Economics Jared Petersilie Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent, Walnut Creek District Sandy Johnson, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Animal Sciences and Industry The following questions are designed to assist cow calf producers in determining next steps and best management practices when considering how best to manage their cow herd in the event of extended drought. Possible outcomes from this decision tree may include: 1. Leaving cows on pasture with supplementation 2. Confinement feeding of cows on farm by producer 3. Feeding cows in a commercial feedlot 4. Early weaning cows 5. Selling all or a portion of the cow herd Instructions to use this handout: 1. Answer the question, you must answer yes to all the questions in order to move to the next set of questions associated with a Yes response. If at least one question is answered as a No then the entire answer should be No. 2. Once determining a Yes or a No go to the correct section or question to answer the next series of questions. 3. Do not read the entire document, but follow the cues from your answers. For example, if answering No on Question 8 skip all the questions until 13. Section I Feed Supply: 1. What is your pasture condition? Assess current pasture growth (yield) and condition, water availability and stocking rates. In depth descriptions of how to sample and calculate forage yield can be found at http://animalrangeextension.montana.edu/lol/module 4a/4 Yield.htm. Good (for now) monitor early season precipitation and be prepared to reduce numbers (Section V), wean early (Sections II, III, and IV), or supplement on pasture Fair to moderate reduce numbers and/or add supplement Poor, go to Question 2 2. Do you have feedstuffs? To estimate the amount of feed required utilize Tables 1 and 2 to determine consumption based on the cows stage of production. It is very important to test your feedstuffs for nutrient composition prior to determining diets for cows especially from a dry matter intake (DMI) perspective. To get a handle on the cost of feeding cows, an available resource that can be adapted for this purpose includes KSU Cow Wintering Costs found on the web at http://www.agmanager.info/tools/default.asp#livestock). So, do you have or can you acquire a reasonably priced, abundant supply of moderate to high quality feedstuffs, such as June 2013
hay, silage, and either grain or grain by products for your current cow inventory? Is the supply adequate to provide for all or a large portion of your current herd throughout the remainder of the grazing season AS WELL AS throughout the winter and pre calving season? If Yes, go to Section II If No, go to Section II to determine cows to keep; if dispersing, go to Section V Table 1. Nutrient requirements of mature beef cows to maintain body condition. Cow Wt Milk Production (lbs) Day of lactation DMI TDN (lbs) TDN (%) 1200 20 60 27.8 16.7 59.9 90 28.4 16.4 57.6 120 27.4 15.4 56.2 Late gestation 24.6 13.8 56.2 Dry 20.9 9.8 46.8 1300 20 60 29.1 17.3 59.5 90 29.9 17.1 57.2 120 28.9 16.2 55.9 Late gestation 26.1 14.7 56.5 Dry 23.8 11.2 46.9 1400 20 60 30.5 18.0 59.1 90 31.3 17.8 56.8 120 30.3 16.8 55.5 Late gestation 27.6 15.6 52.6 Dry 25.2 11.8 46.9 Table 2: Common hays fed to cows in Kansas and TDN values. Hay DM 1 (%) TDN 2 (%) CP 3 (%) Total amt to feed a dry 1,200 lb cow to maintain body condition 4 Maximum DMI for 1,200 cow by feed 5 Prairie 91 50 7 9.8 (50/100) = 19.6 lbs DM 21.1 Corn Stalks 6 80 59 5 9.8 (59/100) = 16.6 lbs DM 19.3 Straw 6 89 42 3 9.8 (42/100) = 23.3 lbs DM 18.2* Ammoniated Straw 89 50 9 9.8 (50/100) = 19.6 lbs DM 23.5 Grass 82 58 10 9.8 (58/100) = 16.9 lbs DM 26.3 Alfalfa, mature 91 50 13 9.8 (50/100) = 19.6 lbs DM 24.8 Fescue, mature 91 44 11 9.8 (44/100) = 22.3 lbs DM 20.5* Brome, mature 92 53 10 9.8 (53/100) = 18.5 lbs DM 20.4 1 DM = dry matter 2 TDN = total digestable nutrients 3 CP = crude protein 4 Remember when calculating how much you will actually provide to the cow you must convert DM to asfed by dividing by the DM (%). For example: Prairie Hay: 9.8 (50/100) = 19.6 lbs DM (91/100) = 21.5 lbs 5 Maximum voluntary intake was calculated using the equation: 120/NDF % * 1200 lb cow. For example: Prairie hay: 120/68.05 = 1.76 * 1200 = 21.12 lb DM * Make sure that the required amount of DMI is less than the maximim DMI, otherwise additional higher energy feeds must be supplemented. 6 Note that these two feed ingredients will need to be fed with additional protein since CP is very low. 2
Section II Cow Herd: 3. How difficult would it be to replace the genetics of your herd? Do you receive premiums for the genetic merit of your herd? Do you track individual performance within your herd and use that information for selection and marketing? If your herd is made up of cows that can easily be replaced at local auction facilities, consider dispersing the herd and rebuilding when forage becomes available, go to Section V If your herd is made up of high value genetics, which would be difficult and costly to regenerate, go to Question 4 4. What do I do with my high quality cows? If you are at this question then you want to keep your high quality cow herd, you need to determine the best way to manage these cows. To help make the decision to feed cows, ship, or destock a spreadsheet is available from the University of Missouri, located at http://beef.missouri.edu/tools/index.htm under the heading of drought, and the spreadsheet is titled, Drought Management Options. Do you have an economical method to retain these high quality cows? If Yes, go to Question 5 If No, go to Section V 5. What is the stage of production for your cow herd? This will determine nutrient requirements for maintenance of cows and is tremendously impacted by lactation. Cows with higher requirements will require more feed and will increase costs, and subsequently might impact facility decision. If your cow is in this stage of production: Lactating cow, go to Question 6 Dry cow, go to Question 8 6. Are you going to early wean your calves? You have lactating cows and since they are expensive to feed, a management option to reduce feeding costs might include early weaning. Are your calves old enough you feel comfortable early weaning (i.e. greater than 90 days of age)? Preparations for early weaning calves include offering a creep feed to calves prior to weaning so that they can transition easier. Some examples of creeps include commercial creep feeds, by products such as wheat middlings, soyhulls, or whole oats. If you have early weaned, then the cow becomes dry and the next decision is found in Question 12. The decisions for the calf are found in Section IV. Are your calves too young to early wean and need to stay with the cow until you can early wean? If yes, go to Question 7. 7. Are you keeping your pairs together? Concerns about placing cows with young calves in a confinement setting require additional decisions. Possible options includes either: Selling pairs to minimize costs and resource usage. Consider current market and if pairs are likely to sell as pairs or to be split, go to Section V. Weaning very young calves (30 to 90 days of age), which will help late calving and/or thin cows to rebreed earlier. This option brings up many other concerns including: Calf proof fences, calf access waters, transitioning of calf to solid feed diet exclusively, and health concerns for the calf. The next step is to determine facilities in Section III. Semi confinement pens are an option to help reduce calf health risks, Section III 3
Section III Facilities: 8. What type of facilities do you have? Evaluate your on farm facilities. Possible facilities include: dry lots, sacrificing a portion of a pasture to allow the rest of pasture to recover, and semiconfinement pens where calves can go out to the pasture while cows are confined in dry lot. Do you have access to adequate facilities to provide comfortable housing for the cow herd onfarm? If Yes, go to Question 9 If No, go to Question 13 Recommendations for Cows Recommendations for Calves Pen Space 200 800 ft 2 depending on stage of production for cows, flooring type, drainage and weather conditions 125 ft 2 /calf during summer and 250 ft 2 /calf during winter Bunk Space 24 30 inches/cow 12 inches/calf Shade Recommended Abundant water, with needs greatly increasing in the summer vs. Water fall/winter/spring 9. Do you have proper feeding equipment for pre determined diets for cows? If hay is of good quality and can be fed in large round bales to meet the cows requirements, there will be little need for additional feedstuffs and, therefore, additional equipment. However, if using poor quality forages cows must be supplemented with protein and energy and might require a mixing truck or wagon for feed delivery. Do you have the equipment necessary to deliver a mixed diet to cows in confinement if necessary? If Yes, go to Question 10 If No, go to Question 13 10. Are you housing your pairs on farm? Are you willing to sacrifice a portion of a pasture to feed cows to allow the remaining pasture a chance to recuperate, do you have strong escape proof fences, and water that is easily available for cows and calves? If Yes, build your paddock, provide feeding troughs/hay feeders, and determine the diet for your cows. Additionally, look at the herd health of your cows, go to Section IV If No, go to Question 11 11. Are you housing your pairs on farm, but not sacrificing a pasture? You have decided to keep your pairs together, but do not want to sacrifice a portion of your pasture, and have feed to meet the cow s requirements, you must now develop a feeding facility that will minimize calf health concerns. An example of this includes semi confinement pens. Semi confinement is providing a creep gate or fence that allows calves to escape into a pasture so they are not continually exposed to dust in a dry lot while cows stay in the dry lot continuously and fed their entire diet daily. Do you have a dry lot pen with easy access to a pasture/paddock/grass meadow for calves and some way to allow the calves to escape the pen? If Yes, build your pen, move cattle into dry lot, and slowly transition cows to the predetermined diet. Also, determine herd health concerns, go to Section IV. If No, determine if calf health risk is low enough to place calves in a dry lot (Question 12) or ship pairs to a commercial feeding facility (Question 13). Shipping pairs to a commercial facility might not be the best option, and as such it might be better to wean the calf and feed the dry cow (go to Question 12) or sell the pair (go to Section V). 4
12. Do you have a dry lot for cows and/or calves on farm? Based on the specs described in 8, can you place your dry cows in a dry lot on farm to retain your herd? Do you have facilities for weaned calves in a dry lot? a. If Yes, keep cows and calves on farm and develop diets to meet nutritional requirements. b. If No, go to Question 13 13. Can you find a commercial feedlot to feed your cows and calves? Have you worked out the specifics with the feedyard in regards to yardage, diets, biosecurity, and other fees? Are you sending either dry cows or weaned calves to the feedlot? a. If Yes, go to Section IV b. If No, work out the particulars with a feedyard about costs. If the costs are not conducive to feed cattle in a commercial yard, sell cows and calves. If dispersing, go to Section V. If selling calves, go to Questions 17 and 18. Section IV Herd Health: 14. Do you have a whole herd health vaccination program in place for your cows? Two important viruses to protect against from a reproductive standpoint include BVD and IBR. Placing cows in confinement also raises the instances of respiratory diseases so vaccinating against PI3 and BRSV is strongly recommended. Have your cows been vaccinated? If YES, go to Question 15 If NO, work with veterinarian to develop a commingling vaccination program for cows prior to them departing home place and being exposed to new cattle. Once program is developed and implemented, go to Question 15. 15. Has your herd been tested for BVD PI? BVD PI means that cows or calves are persistently infected with BVD, and they are a highly infective source of BVD virus for other cattle. This condition is untreatable and these animals will be a constant source of future BVD infection in your herd. Confinement feeding increases the opportunity for exposure of cows to BVD from the same or neighboring pens which can result in pregnancy loss and/or persistently infected calves the next year. Have all cows (or cows of PI positive calves) been tested for BVD PI? Are cows that are retained negative for BVD PI? If YES, go to Question 16 If NO, test all cows and sell those that test positive for BVI PI as packer cows 16. For the cows that have made it through to this point, work with your veterinarian to develop the best biosecurity practices for these cows. Also, work on exit strategies for the time when the cows can go back to grass, after the drought breaks. 17. Did you retain the early weaned calves and vaccinate them? Do you have a vaccination program in place for these calves? General recommendations include vaccinations against clostridial (7 way) and viral (4 way) infections, treat for internal and external parasites, and provide protection from flies. If YES, go to Question 18 If NO, work with veterinarian to develop the best management practices for early weaned calves in order to prevent calf losses and administer if keeping calves, then go to Question 18. If you did not keep calves then complete market preparation as soon as possible to capture the greatest value on calves at market. Calves which have had minimal management applied to them, such as castration, dehorning, vaccination, and pre weaning, typically have the lowest value within the marketing chain, go to Section V 5
18. How have your calves been processed? Have young bulls been castrated and have all cattle been dehorned? If YES, go to Question 19 If NO, complete processing to capture market value if selling, go to Section V. If keeping calves, complete processing and go to Question 19. 19. Do you have feedstuffs for your calves? Do you have high quality feedstuffs available and a high quality diet designed (visit with your extension professional/ nutritionist/feed professional)? This may include good quality hay, grain or grain by products, and a supplement to provide vitamins, minerals, and any needed feed additives. Most of the time it is not recommended to feed very young calves silage. If Yes, determine what facilities work on farm for your situation using guidelines described in Question 8 and gradually transition calves from good quality hay onto the growing diet, and feed calves until they are ready for market. Monitor calves daily for digestive disturbances, scours, coccidiosis, and intake levels after weaning. If No, find a feedlot for your calves for retaining ownership; if not, sell and go to Section V. Section V Taxes and other implications 20. Prior to making any major changes in your herd status, consult with a tax professional to determine how to manage any major change in your equity position, such as complete herd dispersal. Do you have an accountant to help understand tax implications? If YES, go to Question 21 If NO, find someone to help with tax implications prior to dispersal. 21. Do you have documentation that the drought is the reason for dispersal? Do you have information available regarding past management of costs for the cow herd (for example, depreciation)? If YES, visit with accountant about steps to take, go to Question 22 If NO, start collecting the information needed as instructed by your tax professional prior to dispersal of cattle operation 22. Do you have a plan for re building your herd once the drought breaks? If YES, you are in place to continue with a sustainable agricultural program If NO, work on a strategy, as early as you can, even if it is prior to dispersal To get a handle on what you may be able to pay for replacement heifers under the destock and restock approach, use the KSU Beef Replacements decision aide available online (http://www.agmanager.info/tools/default.asp#livestock). Current replacement heifer and cull cow prices are regularly posted online (e.g. http://mda.mo.gov/market/pdf/weeklysummary.pdf). This decision tool is designed to help producers make the hard decisions about managing cows during tough drought conditions. To further make decisions and management changes, a second article about the specific management practices described in this decision tool can be found in the article entitled, Managing Cows in a Confinement Situation. 6
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