Air January 22, 2003

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. We had a great 4 state beef conference up in Clay Center last Wednesday and I wanted to hit some of the highlights of that meeting.

It’s always interesting to listen to economists talk about the markets. What’s interesting is all the conditions that they give you before they give you their forecast. The economists were fairly optimistic about cattle markets through 2003. They feel that herd shrinkage and slaughter size have both gotten down to a level where supply is becoming more in sync with demand. But there are a lot of wildcards in the crystal ball not the least of which are the economy and the possibility of military action around the world. The best thing to do is proceed with caution, keep in mind your own economics, remember that we are still dealing with a drought, and spend time visiting with the local markets at the Sale Barn to know what is happening right here at home.

Dr. Dan Loy is an Animal Scientist from Iowa State University talked with us about nutrtional management of the calf after weaning. But a lot of what he was talking about was really some common sense stuff that applies to all cattle. For starters, know what you have, and have some realistic goals for those cattle. Are you buying cattle because you know you can make a profit off of them, or are you buying yearlings because you’ve always bought yearlings and you’ve got to have something on that grass next summer. Maybe you can make more money not buying grass cattle and renting the pasture to someone else! Next, match and manage your nutrition program to the livestock you have and your objectives. Don’t overfeed protein or energy. Make sure that your animals are getting the micronutrients, minerals and vitamins they need. Drought stressed forages and switching to some nontypical feed stuffs can wind up with some unusual imbalances in diets. And finally, monitor, monitor, monitor. There are so many factors during the winter that can change from day to day. You constantly have to be alert to what is going on with the cattle, the feed and the weather and make weekly, if not daily, adjustments to your management. Remember, time and time again, the difference between the outstanding manager and the average manager is not the big things, it’s attention to the little details!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2003.

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