AIR OCTOBER 14, 1998

Thank you Mark and good morning everyone. It’s sure been good to see some sunshine and drier weather so that we can get some field work done. Maybe with a little luck this will continue for the rest of the month!

With all the warm weather we’ve been having it’s hard to imagine that snow could be flying within a month, not that I expect it to be, but it could! I attended a county agent update session last week and the topic was cattle, specifically cattle nutrition. We spent a lot of time looking at typical winter feedstuffs, lots of hay and crop residue. We were specifically looking at the incredible variation in quality of very similar looking hay that was harvested from different pastures at different times. We looked at bluestem hay and brome hay that varied from extremely good to extremely bad. But you couldn’t tell it by looking at it. Feeding the really good stuff you could balance a ration with a lot less protein supplement. Feeding the bad stuff, you couldn’t get enough grain and protein into those cows to make up for it. The bottom line is that if you don’t test you don’t know what you’ve got. Sure, we can balance a winter ration for your cows that are based on average values. If your hay is average you’ll get average results. If your hay is above average you will get above average results but you’ll also spend more money than you need to. If you have below average hay you’ll get below average results and you’ll pay for it with smaller calves, lost cow body condition and problems with re-breeding next spring. With the current conditions you can’t afford just average results - you won’t be able to stay in business. Get that hay tested and then we can put a good ration together. The next important part of the equation is what is that feed going in to? Are you developing a ration for 1000 or 1100 pound cows when they are actually 1200 pounds? If so your results are not going to be what you anticipated and you’ll probably try to blame it on a lot of things other than that you weren’t feeding them enough. Anyone can put together a cow, steer or heifer ration. But the old phrase - garbage in garbage out certainly has merit. Know the quality of what you’re feeding. Know what you’re feeding it to and know what kind of results you want. If you don’t you won’t know what to expect and making money will come down to dumb luck!

This is Chuck Otte, County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook '98.

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