1. Evaluation of economics of cool-season annuals or reduced labor supplementation systems for wintering cow-calf pairs
Ken Kelley, Max Runge, Jessica Kelton, Katie Mason, Kim Mullenix, Josh Elmore
Abstract
Cattle producers typically feed hay and supplement for a 90 to 120 day window to maintain cows during the winter in Alabama. A 75-day trial evaluated the use of three systems (n = 3 replications per system): 1) rotationally grazed-winter annuals (GWA) on a 14-day rotation, 2) free-choice whole cottonseed (WCS) and bermudagrass hay, or 3) 50% soybean hulls and 50% corn gluten feed (SH:CGF) fed on alternate days at up to 1% BW daily and free-choice bermudagrass hay. GWA had the greatest Total Cost Per Pair Per Day (TCPD) for the 75 day grazing system at $6.58, followed by WCS at $4.73 and SH:CGF at $ Initial and final cow BCS was not different among treatments (P = ). Cow ADG was greater (P = ) on GWA than SH:CGF and WCS (0.9, 0.2, and 0.2 kg, respectively), and calf ADG followed a similar pattern (1.5, 1.2, and 1.1 kg/day for GWA, WCS, and SH:CGF, respectively). WCS and SH:CGF were static across trial when only days of trial are considered, but TCPPD decreased linearly (R=.9723) as days on grazing increase. GWA becomes the low cost feed option (with WCS and SH:CGF inputs remaining constant) if trial days were extended to 119 days. This project demonstrates that GWA produces greater animal performance than other project diets, but requires additional grazing days (>119) to be the least cost feeding option.
Project Summary
A winter feeding trial at E.V Smith Research Center in Shorter, AL
Three cow-calf pairs were placed on each of nine five-acre paddocks, with three paddocks per treatment. Paddocks planted with winter annuals were divided in half with temporary fencing and managed with rotational grazing, rotating every days based on defoliation and regrowth.
Treatments
1. Winter-annual mixture (oats, crimson clover, and ryegrass); rotational grazing
2. Whole cottonseed (WCS) (ad libitum) + free-choice bermudagrass hay
3. 50:50 soy hulls: corn gluten feed (SH:CGF) (up to 1% BW; provided every-other-day) + free-choice bermudagrass hay
Diet effects on animal performance of lactating cow-calf pairs.
Item
Winter Annuals
WCS + Hay
50:50 SH:CGF + Hay
Cow Initial Wt (lb)*
1360
1244
1222
Cow Final Wt (lb)*
1499
1280
1248
Cow Initial BCS 6
Cow Final BCS 7
Calf Initial Wt (lb)
231
235
222
Calf Final Wt (lb)
468
432
407
Calf ADG (lb/d)
3.3
2.7
2.5
*Unshrunk weights
Grazing = greatest cost per pair per day (TCPPD) $6.52 WCS = $4.73 SH/CG= $4.86
WCS and SH:CGF were static across trial when only days of trial are considered, but TCPPD decreased linearly (R=.9723) as days on grazing increase.
Conclusion
Grazing becomes the low cost feed option (with WCS and SH:CGF inputs remaining constant) if trial days were extended to 118 days.
This project demonstrates that GWA produces greater animal performance than other project diets, but requires additional grazing days (>118) to be the least cost feeding option.