Add Beef to Your Stockers

Welcome back to the square.  As we look out across fields we are seeing the beautiful green stands of wheat emerging.  Looking into the future we know that wheat is vital for the production of beef by stocking those fields with calves this fall, winter and early spring.  If our goal is beef production, then putting pounds of beef on those carcasses is our job.  The following are a few ideas producer’s can use to put added pounds of beef on those stocker calves.

• Implant calves:  For a small initial cost, implants have been shown to improve the average daily gain of grazing cattle by about 10%- 15%.  This can easily mean increases of 0.2 lbs per day gain on wheat pasture.
  
  
• Mineral supplementation:  Research at the OSU Wheat Pasture Research Unit at Marshall, supports the value of a good mineral supplementation program for cattle grazing wheat.  Wheat forage contains marginal to sufficient phosphorus and magnesium, excess potassium, and inadequate amounts of calcium for growing cattle.  Therefore, the mineral of primary concern for supplementation is calcium.  A typical mineral formulated for wheat pasture supplementation would contain 15-18% calcium, and 3-8% phosphorus.  It will have little or no iron, sulfur and potassium, and a modest concentration of zinc, copper and manganese.  Gain response to mineral supplementation in two years of data from the Marshall Station, show an increase of slightly over 0.1 lbs per head per day in a year with limited forage availability, to over 0.25 lbs increase in ADG in two years with adequate forage.
  
  
• Use an ionophore:  The addition of an ionophore to the mineral program can also have a positive influence on average daily gain.  OSU research has shown an increase in average daily gain of over 0.4 lbs by using a mineral with Rumensin compared to a non-medicated mineral.
  
  

I hope you have enjoyed our visit this week and I’ll see you next week or most any other day On the SqUare.  The Greer County Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age or disability and is an Equal Opportunity Employer.