A Publication of:

OSU Extension - Fairfield County

831 College Ave., Suite D, Lancaster, OH 43130

Phone: 740.653.5419

and the

OSU Extension BEEF Team

BEEF Cattle questions may be directed to the OSU Extension BEEF Team through Stephen Boyles or Stan Smith, Editor

Previous issues of the BEEF Cattle letter

Issue # 454

September 28, 2005

Katrina and Rita Impact the South's Cattlemen Too! - Stan Smith, OSU Extension PA, Fairfield County

Certainly the news chronicles that exhibit the devastation of the recent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast display what Mother Nature can do to a community in very short order. While most of the news and film footage seen here in the Midwest show the impact the hurricanes had on the displaced families, the problems caused by oil supply disruptions, and the massive cleanup efforts required before communities can be rebuilt, former OSU Extension colleague John Huston recently called my attention to the impact the hurricanes have had on southern US agriculture.

John grew up in Columbiana County, Ohio and previously was an agriculture agent at the OSU Extension office in Fayette County. He currently lives and works in Mississippi. After Katrina rolled through he traveled to south Mississippi and tells me, "The major need for the south Mississippi livestock producers is for hay and fencing material. The primary perspective is that such a large area has been impacted. 44 counties are considered high damage areas with all but 7 counties statewide being considered part of the federal disaster area."

John also forwarded this September 26 update from the Mississippi Cattlemen's Association (MCA), "Cleanup efforts were delayed last weekend as Tropical Storm Rita brought heavy rain -11 inches near Flora - high winds and sporadic tornados to the state. Other areas in Southeastern Mississippi are still dry, having received no rain during the four weeks since Katrina. Ryegrass planting is being delayed in most areas due to problems with weather and availability of seed and fertilizer."

Dairy producers were also significantly impacted. John's assessment was this: "Dairy producers were the hardest hit. The milking schedules were irregular due to many factors such as availability of labor and fuel for generators. Most producers that I met with were 30 hours post hurricane before they were able to milk, largely due to making sure that there families were safe and securing their homes as a first priority. Once everything was stabilized and they began milking, they were limited to once daily milkings because there just wasn't enough fuel for generators. As fuel became available, many producers did not have enough fuel to travel the distances to get fuel. It was a rough couple of weeks. The bulk of the dairy producers did not have enough feed on hand to last more than 4 or 5 days, or the feed storage and handling equipment was damaged resulting in the stored feed being inaccessible. The irregular feeding schedules and inconsistent rations resulted in a host of metabolic concerns that will be dealt with for months, things like sub-clinical acidosis, laminitis, and founder. The dairy producers will be dealing with major decreases in milk production for the duration of this lactation. Not to mention all of the milk that was dumped because there were no trucks picking up milk for the first week. It is a complex situation for everyone but especially for the dairy producers."

John suggests that as individuals or organizations consider what they may do to help out, to save on shipping costs the MCA has been encouraging financial contributions so that the materials can be purchased locally. Not only does this help keep down shipping costs, but it supports local merchants who were also hard hit by the hurricanes.

Contributions that have been received from across the country by the MCA thus far to aid cattlemen affected by the hurricane have ranged from $25 sent in by a lady in Vermont who wanted cattlemen in Mississippi to know that she was concerned about their losses, to large corporate contributions. Collegiate cattlemen at a small college in Georgia mailed their check last week and a 4-H club in West Virginia collected $800 to help fellow 4-H families in South Mississippi. Other examples include a donation of 22 tons of pelleted feed from the Georgia Cattlemen's Association and a $2500 donation from the California Cattlemen's Association to the Mississippi Cattlemen's Foundation's "Fencing Certificate" program to help rebuild facilities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. They are also sending a shipment of Gallagher Fencing supplies to affected cattlemen.

Anyone wishing to make tax-deductible contributions to the relief efforts for effected cattlemen can send them marked "Katrina Relief" to: Mississippi Cattlemen's Foundation, 680 Monroe St., Jackson, MS 39202. The MCA office can be contacted at 601-354-8951 or missca1@bellsouth.net.

Photos of Hurricane Katrina's damage to some of the south Mississippi cattle farms can be seen at the MCA website: http://www.mscattlemen.org If you'd like to correspond with John Huston, you may reach him at: jeh7@ra.msstate.edu

Weaning Management - Spreading the Stress: Part 2 - Steve Boyles and Steve Loerch, The Ohio State University Department of Animal Sciences

In Part 1 of spreading the stress of weaning we dealt with early castration and dehorning as recommended practices. There are viable economic and physiological reasons to consider these practices.

Calves can be weaned at 30-45 days prior to shipping. This separates the stress of weaning from all the other stresses associated with marketing and feedlot arrival. Shipping less than 30 days post weaning is not recommended for several reasons. A 30-45-day period gives the calf time to learn to how to eat from a feed bunk and recoup the post-weaning weight. Weaning 45 days before shipping may be more profitable because it gives the calf more time to grow and the producer will have more pounds of beef to sell. You will have to run a pencil on the cost of this procedure and work with auction barns or other buyers to evaluate the financial outcomes needed to evaluate this management strategy.

A couple of options for weaning calves are maintaining them on pasture or they can be confined in a drylot. Supplemental feed needs to meet energy and protein needs for growth and immune system function. Calves that remain on pasture should be provide with a grain-based supplement in a bunk. Grain intake should be 5-10 lbs/day based on quality of pasture and the eventual destination of the calves (backgrounder vs. feedlot). Target gains should be between 2 and 3 lbs/day. There is evidence from Penn State University and Canadian research that indicates that weaned calves actually do better if they have fence line contact with their dams. You may want to move the cows to a pasture adjacent to the calves, rather than the traditional "out of sight, out of mind" approach. This also fits well with many Ohio producers who do not have adequate acreage to really get the cows "out of earshot." Admittedly you need a good fence between the cows and calves. A standoff electric wire might be considered if you have problems with either group breaking through.

Calves weaned on drylot or pasture should be fed about 50% grain 50% forage diet. Feed good quality hay. High-quality alfalfa is not the best choice for stressed calves because it is highly laxative (scouring). Delay feeding silage until most of the calves are eating well.

There is not a magic list of nutrient requirements for weaning calves but the following number are "in the ballpark." A weaning diet should be 45-50 Mega calories of Net Energy Gain/100 lbs of feed dry mater and contain approximately 16% protein. Protein, vitamin and mineral requirements must be met so calves can grow and have a fully functioning immune system. The mineral content should be .5% calcium, .3% phosphorus and .8-1.2% potassium. A high level of vitamin A (50,000 IU/day) is desirable the first few days after weaning. After all of the calves are eating, 10-15,000 UI daily should be an adequate amount of vitamin A. This mineral supplement may not be the same one you're feeding the cows. Typically calcium levels need to be higher since grains are lower in calcium than forage. Forages can be deficient in minerals such as copper, zinc and selenium. If providing free-choice mineral, provide enough for 2-3 days. This will assure the freshness of the mineral supplement and improve consumption. A high quality protein and vitamin/mineral supplement(s) from a reputable feed company is recommended. If pellets are used, calves seem to prefer small pellets (under ½ inch in diameter) with few fine particles. Natural protein sources are recommended during the weaning or preconditioning phase. Consider a product for coccidiosis control. The follow mix was used in a weaning study conducted at OARDC Branch Stations.

Adequate bunk space (1.5-2 ft/calf) is necessary so all calves can eat at one time. Clean, fresh water should always be available. The water should be accessible and not hard for the calves to find. A slowly running hose can attract the calves to the water source. However, if accomplishing this causes a mud situation, then just focus on accessibility. If using a hose, keep the spout above the water level. This produces the sound of water running, but perhaps more importantly, prevents flow of dirty water back into the water system.

People starting calves on feed should be as finicky as horse people. Avoid finely ground, dusty feed or year-old hay the may be dusty as well. Cracked corn works well and is one of our cheap sources of calories (energy). This can be an excellent place to use digestible fiber sources such as dried distillers grain, corn gluten feed, pelleted soybean hulls and wheat midds. The grain supplement can be top-dressed on quality forage.

Creep feeding for 2 weeks before weaning may ease the transition to bunk feeding after weaning. Alternately fence-line feeding a small amount of grain to cows and calves a few days before weaning is a good substitute if you don't want to creep feed.

Treatment Timing for Cattle Grubs - Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension Agent, Athens County, edited from OSU Bulletin 473, "Livestock and Livestock Building Pest Management" http://ohioline.osu.edu/b473/index.html

Proper timing of treatment is important when using systemic grubicide pour-ons, spot-ons, or sprays on beef and non-lactating dairy cattle. Summer-time treatments for cattle grubs usually provide two to three weeks of horn fly control. For most effective results, cattle should be treated as soon as possible after heel fly activity ceases, but at least six weeks before grubs appear in the back, i.e. from July to the first killing frost (October). In Ohio it may be best to treat between September 1 and November 1 to avoid the risk of reinfestation. Do not treat after November 1 for cattle grubs. Do not treat on extremely hot days.

Host-parasite reactions such as bloat, salivation, staggering and paralysis may sometimes occur when cattle are treated, especially in November and December when the common cattle grub, Hypoderma lineatum, is in the gullet, or when the northern cattle grub, H. bovis, is in the area of the spinal cord. Cattle should be treated either before or after these stages of grub development to prevent toxic reaction complications.

"Why throw you oats from a perfectly good airplane" . . . an update - Stan Smith, OSU Extension PA, Fairfield County

Many have asked about the success and early results of the oats that were flown into standing corn on Fairfield and Licking County farms in August. The photos below were taken 9/23/05, thirty one days after aerial seeding 100 pounds per acre of oats over the corn. Katrina delivered about 3 inches of rain 7 days after the seeding, and corn silage was harvested 4 days later in the left photo, and is yet ot be harvested on the right. Note the oats are ~11 inches tall and on the day of the photo would have yielded about 1400 pounds of dry matter with a total cost of $23 per acre.

Keep That Alfalfa Stand? - Marvin Hall, Forage Management, Crop and Soil Sciences, Penn State

As winter weather approaches producers question if their alfalfa stands are worth keeping another year or should they be rotated to corn nest spring. Unfortunately this is not always a yes or no decision. However, recent research can help in assessing the productivity and profitability of a questionable alfalfa stand.

The magic number of plants, that traditionally indicated when it was time to rotate out of alfalfa, has been 4 - 5 plants per square foot. However, depending on fertility and weed invasion, alfalfa stands with 5 plants per square foot can yield as much as a stand with 10 or 15 plants per square foot. The correlation between plants per square foot and yield is very low since individual alfalfa plants respond to decreasing stand density by producing more stems. Increased stems per plant compensates for fewer plants and maintains the yield.

A better indicator than the number of plants of the productivity of an alfalfa stand is the number of stems per square foot. Fields with 55 or more stem per square foot produce maximum yields. As the stem number declines below 55 per square foot yields begin to decline. Once stem numbers falls below 40 per square foot alfalfa fields begin to lose profitability and should be rotated out of alfalfa.

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