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BEEF Cattle questions may be directed to the OSU Extension BEEF Team through Stephen Boyles or Stan Smith, Editor
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Previous issues of the BEEF Cattle letter
Issue # 571
Forage Focus: Benefits of Frost Seeding Legumes - Curt Stivison, Fairfield County Soil and Water Engineering Technician
Adding legumes to hay and pasture fields brings at least four benefits and frost seeding is a simple, but effective method. Broadcasting legume seed on the soil surface as it 'honeycombs' in late winter (February 15 to March 15) allows the seeds to become covered as the soil freezes and thaws.
1) Higher yields: The total yield of forage per acre is increased. For example, a study conducted at Lexington, Kentucky compared renovating a fescue pasture using red clover to fertilizing the grass with nitrogen. In this study, adding 6 pounds of red clover seed to a fescue pasture produced higher yields than fescue fertilized with up to 180 lb N/ac.
2) Improved quality: Adding legumes to grass fields improves forage quality over grass alone. This added quality includes increases in palatability, intake, digestibility, and nutrient content. The result is improved animal performance. Research has shown that legumes improve animal growth rates, reproductive efficiency, and milk production.
3) Nitrogen fixation: Legumes get their nitrogen needs from symbiotic bacteria that live in "knots" (nodules) on their roots. These bacteria are added when the legume seed is inoculated. This "fixed" nitrogen provides the nitrogen needed by the legumes and also grasses growing with them. Alfalfa usually fixes the most, between 200 and 300 pounds/acre/year, while annual lespedeza is on the low side with about 75 pounds. Red clovers can fix 100 to 200 pounds of nitrogen/acre/year. With nitrogen cost at 56 cents a pound that equals 56 to 112 dollars an acre benefit in nitrogen alone. At the recommended seeding rates of 6 to 12 pounds (depending on conditions) and a cost of $3.25 a pound, that equals 20 to 40 dollars per acre.
4) More summer growth: Most of the growth of cool-season grasses occurs during the spring and fall. Legumes make more growth during the summer months than cool-season grasses. Growing grasses and legumes together improves the seasonal distribution of forages and provides more growth during summer.
Controlling grass and weed competition in a new seeding is critical. Many attempts at renovation have failed simply because grass was allowed to grow and reduce the light, nutrients, and water available to the young legume plants. The grass must be kept short by grazing or mowing until the new legume plants are 3 to 4 inches tall. Stop grazing if the animals begin biting off the young legume leaves. Grazing and mowing should be stopped for several weeks to allow the legumes to become well established. After this, the field should be mowed or grazed on a schedule that will help keep the particular legumes used in good condition. A rotational grazing system helps keep legumes in the stand longer.
Find more details about frost seeding forages in OSU Extension Fact Sheet "Improving Pasture With Frost Seeding"
Selecting for Calving Ease and Disposition - Dr. Darrh Bullock, Beef Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky
Buying a bull that fits your needs and operation is very important. For this reason, there is no such thing as "the perfect bull", for all farms because what would be considered as the best bull for one operation will be different for another. Looking at all of the traits for each bull and determining which one best fit your needs is the right approach. Using tools such as Expected Progeny Differences will help in this decision making process.
When visiting with Kentucky beef producers there are two traits that seem to be important to most: calving ease and temperament. Although both of these traits are associated with added convenience, they also have a great impact on production. Anyone that has ever assisted the delivery of a calf that is too large for the pelvic cavity of a heifer would like to avoid that in the future if possible. Not only is it an unpleasant experience, but it can result in the death of the calf and/or heifer and when the heifer survives it results in delayed rebreeding or she does not rebreed at all. The best way to avoid this problem is to select bulls that have higher values for calving ease EPD while maintaining adequate performance for other traits.
When selecting bulls to provide calving ease, it is important not to forget about the other traits that impact you economically. Choose a bull that is going to give you adequate calving ease, while maintaining enough growth to positively impact sale weights and the level of milk to fit your environment. Another piece of advice is to select based on EPDs alone and not on the shape of the bull. Research has shown that calf shape does not significantly impact calving difficulty.
The other trait of special interest to many Kentucky producers is temperament or docility; how gentle is the bull or his offspring? This is an important trait for farm safety, but it also has an impact on production. Research has shown that cattle with a poor disposition do not gain as well and have reduced carcass performance. Some breeds have EPDs for this trait, but most do not. This is often a trait that must be determined by interacting with the bull prior to purchase. Many breeds are becoming more interested in developing docility EPDs and I think that in the future this will be a trait that will be more easily selected for using EPDs.
Whether your selection is based on added convenience, added production or both; selecting for calving ease and disposition in beef cattle can have positive affects when done right.
Does Temperament Effect Carcass Quality? - Heather Smith Thomas, CATTLE TODAY
Many cattlemen have suspected that disposition -- the mental and emotional attitude of cattle -- has an effect on how well they do in the feedlot, having an impact on gain. The nervous, flighty animal doesn't spend as much time at the feed bunk. This suspicion has been confirmed, thanks to several studies focusing on the effects of disposition on cattle performance. Results of these studies have also shown a very measurable effect on carcass quality.
Dr. Rhonda Vann, animal scientist at Mississippi State University, has been studying cattle behavior for three years, in collaboration with Texas A&M University. Her research has shown that temperament has a direct effect on weight gain or loss and that wild cattle have very little chance to acheive top carcass quality. For instance, docile calves go through weaning with very little setback, compared to nervous individuals that are more stressed. Flighty calves don't eat as well, losing weight for a longer period instead of gaining, and are also more susceptible to illness since stress hinders the immune system.
Her three year study showed that docile cattle were more efficient on feed, and more profitable. Even at pasture, the data collected on stocker steers after a 168 day grazing period showed that calm cattle had better growth performance and body composition. Flighty individuals not only gained less weight in both the pasture and feedlot, but also had poor ultrasound data, tougher meat and were often dark cutters, with carcasses that were severely discounted by packers. "Bad tempered animals have less fat and less marbling. There wasn't a noticeable difference in ribeye size, but their ability to mobilize fat was significantly reduced," says Vann. The end result was $60 less profit than for docile animals.
Research at Iowa State University reached similar conclusions, showing that wild and unmanageable cattle gain about half a pound per day less than easily managed cattle, and returned $61 less profit. Another study involved more than 13,000 calves from 12 states, fed at eight Iowa feedlots and consigned to the Iowa Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity. This 3 year study looked at feedlot gain, death and sickness loss, quality and yield grade and other performance factors, using the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) disposition scoring system to measure performance and profitability of cattle with varying temperament. A purpose of the study was to help producers assess feedlot profitabily in terms of temperament.
During the study each group of cattle was scored three times during their feeding period. Based on their scores (using the BIF scoring system) they were sorted into three categories--docile, restless and aggressive. The docile cattle gained better and there were more Prime and Choice grades iin this group, along with more acceptability for the Certified Angus Beef program. They also had lower mortality rates than cattle in the aggressive category.
Looking at feedlot gain, death loss, costs of treatment, quality, yield grade and other performance criteria, the docile group averaged $62.15 more profit per head than aggressive cattle and $49.09 more profit per head than the restless cattle. The aggressive cattle averaged a net loss of $7.26.
Temperament is a combination of genetics and handling, and begins on the farm. Selection for easy-going disposition when purchasing a bull or keeping a heifer, along with careful handling when cattle are young (and each time the cows are handled for vaccinating, sorting and any other management processing) can make a big difference in future profitability. There are wild and calm animals in every breed, and it is up to the producer to select the more docile animals as seedstock. The Limousin association was the first breed organization to develop a docility EPD at the request of their membership, and this is a measurement needed in other breeds as well.
Docility versus wild, aggressive nature is not difficult to measure. Individuals with undesirable temperament are difficult to get close to, upset when confined (fence and gate crashers) and more difficult to process. Several researchers use excitability and movement when measuring temperament, such as how much the animal fights while in the holding chute (some producers call this the "rattle index") and how fast the animal leaves the chute. Cattle with a high exit speed tend to be more temperamental. Dr. Rhonda Vann, at Mississippi State University, uses an infrared timer to measure each animal's exit speed when leaving the chute. Her research showed that the animals that were fastest coming out of the chute had poorer carcass quality and were less tender after their 120 days in the feedlot, compared with docile cattle.
Ohio Cattlemen's Association accepting consignments for Seedstock Improvement Bull Sales
The Ohio Cattlemen's Association is currently accepting bull consignments to the two Seedstock Improvement Sales scheduled for April. The sales, held on Friday, April 4 at Muskingum Livestock in Zanesville and Saturday, April 12 at Union Stock Yards Company in Hillsboro, offer an affordable way to market bulls from multiple breeds in one location and on one day. Buyers have the assurance of buying bulls with known genetics, a completed vaccination regiment and a breeding soundness exam. In 2007, 76 bulls were sold through the two sales.
The Seedstock Improvement Sales are open to consignments from all breeds of bulls. Consignors must be a current member of the Ohio Cattlemen's Association to participate. Bulls are required to be registered and to have expected progeny differences (EPDs). The bulls will be placed in sale order based on a within breed evaluation star system using EPDs for birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight and milk. Bulls consigned to the sales can be from one to five years of age. History of the sale shows that bulls 18 months of age and older command a higher price.
For more information on the sales, visit www.ohiocattle.org and look under the Beef Improvement section or by contacting Bill Doig at 614-873-6736 or bdoig@ohiobeef.org. Consignment deadline for both sales is January 31, 2008.
Visit the OSU Beef Team calendar of meetings and upcoming events
BEEF Cattle is a weekly publication of Ohio State University Extension in Fairfield County and the OSU Beef Team. Contributors include members of the Beef Team and other beef cattle specialists and economists from across the U.S.
All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status. Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Admin. and Director, OSU Extension. TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868
Fairfield County Agriculture and Natural Resources
