2011 AND 2012 EARLY CAREERS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS: Improving the production, environmental, and economic efficiency of the stocker cattle industry in the southeastern United States1,2

Abstract

Grazing forages on small-grain fields can be a profitable "second crop" for grain producers and an opportunity for cow-calf producers to retain ownership of weaned calves. The increasing costs of conventional tillage and movement of soil nutrients into surface water creates a need for more sustainable production practices to be incorporated by producers into wheat pasture production systems. Research at the Livestock and Forestry Research Station near Batesville, AR, and the Southwest Research and Extension Center near Hope, AR, has been conducted over a 9-yr span to characterize the impacts of pasture systems on forage production, animal performance, soil quality, water runoff, and the economics associated with the stocker cattle enterprises. Gains of growing cattle grazing nontoxic endophyte-infected tall fescue and small-grain forages can be increased by 80 and 150%, respectively, compared with grazing Bermuda grass or toxic endophyte-infected tall fescue. Producers grazing spring-calving cowherds can use these improved forages to accelerate stocker performance when retaining calves in the fall and improve net returns by 99% with winter annual or nontoxic tall fescue production systems compared with Bermuda grass or toxic tall fescue. Rainfall simulation of small grain pastures indicates that runoff volume and nutrient load does not differ between conventionally tilled fields and no-till fields in the spring before tillage when soil surface cover is similar. In the fall after tillage, however, conventionally tilled fields had 4 times greater runoff; hence, there was 1.9 times greater N runoff and 3.2 times greater P runoff in conventionally tilled fields compared with no-till. Total natural rainfall runoff from conventionally tilled wheat fields were 2 times greater than from no-till fields with 25 mm rainfall events yet were 4 times greater with 62-mm rainfall events. Soil analysis shows that soil aggregate content was greater in no-till compared with conventional till, indicating greater soil porosity, improved water infiltration rate, and reduced erositivity of soil. Carbon concentration in no-till soils was 50% greater than conventional tillage after 9 yr. These experiments show that production systems can be designed that maintain livestock production, increase soil quality, reduce nutrient discharge, and promote improved economic returns.

Effects of stocking rate, forage management, and grazing management on performance and economics of cow–calf production in Southwest Arkansas1

“…The cool-season annuals averaged (DM basis) 25.0 ± 2.1% CP, 29.2 ± 2.8% ADF, 48.6 ± 3.7% NDF, and 69.8 ± 3.2% TDN during the spring. The composition of the cool-season annual pastures in the current experiment is similar to that reported in an overview of 6 experiments by Beck et al (2013) and was able to provide supplemental nutrients to cows during the critical calving and early lactation periods in the late winter and early spring. Cows in MR pastures were fed very little hay during the first 2 yr of the experiment and were maintained primarily on strip-grazed stockpiled bermudagrass, whereas cows in HR grazed stockpiled bermudagrass much later into the winter than was the original intent.…”

El auto-suministro mejoró el desempeño de terneros pastoreando campo natural diferido en invierno en sistemas ganaderos extensivos

“…Animal supplementation on native grasslands allows nutrient input to increase, having a positive effect on ADG (Boval et al, 2015). In fact, Beck et al (2013) carried out a literature review in which low quality forages were considered, and they concluded that supplementation on warm season forages significantly increased ADG compared to non-supplemented schemes. In the current study, both experiments registered a positive effect of supplementation on ADG, when comparing treatments with restricted supplementation rates (E and RSF; Table 3 and Figure 2).…”

Grazing Evaluation of Annual and Perennial Cool‐Season Forage Systems for Stocker Production in the Lower Transition Zone

“…For each year, grazing was initiated once available forage DM was estimated to be above 1785 lb/acre. Grazing was terminated when steer ADG fell below 1 lb/day or available forage DM was estimated to be <1000 lb/acre (approximate amount of available forage DM required to support steer ADG of 1 lb/day at the stocking rate utilized in this study [Beck et al, 2013]). Steers were provided free-choice mineral mix containing lasalocid (VMS Kowpoke 4 B1200, Ridley Block Operations, Mankato, MN) and water ad libitum throughout this study.…”