Feeding the Herd through a Drought
Nutrition becomes the number one concern when cattle producers deal with drought conditions. Typically the first thing we try to do is buy more hay which isn’t always the easiest or economical thing to do. If you are purchasing hay try to buy it on a value basis rather than volume. In other words purchase hay on weight and nutrient composition rather than by the quantity of bales. While this is easier said than done you can save yourself supplement cost in the long if you can buy higher quality hay.
We also need to feed hay as efficiently as possible. This can be done by reducing wastage feeding accurately. Something as simple as using a hay ring can reduce hay wastage drastically. One of the best ways to improve your accuracy for the amount of hay to feed while also reducing waste is to process it thru a mixer grinder and create a total mixed ration with other feedstuffs. This option needs to be evaluated carefully to make sure it is an economically feasible option in your operation. Reducing hay wastage by feeding it more effectively is a must in stretching hay supplies.
Culling Another way to help feed the herd through a drought is by reducing the number of mouths you are feeding. Culling is the easiest, but not always the most favorable way of extending your feed resources. A logical culling order is listed below and adapted from the “Louisiana Beef Cattle Producer Guide to Coping with Drought Conditions”. A logical culling order that may be used is as follows: •Open old cows •Open replacement heifers (still young enough to feed out and meet fed market targets) •Old cows with unsound mouth, eyes, feet and legs •Open cows of any age •Thin cows over 7 years old (body condition score < 4) •Very late bred 2 year olds •Healthy bred cows that are over 7 years old •Healthy bred young cows 2 or 3 years old •Healthy bred cows 4 to 7 year old cows. Reducing the numbers of mouths to feed is a tough decision but can help reduce some potential cost and it is not a bad option with the current market we are experiencing.
Stretching Forage Supplies through Supplementation
Most producers do not want to utilize their hay stores this early in the year. Regardless if it is something we wish to do or not, we must do it efficiently and accurately to stretch our supplies. To efficiently feed the herd we first need to know their requirements. The nutrient requirements for a 1200 lb. pound cow (body condition score 5) are listed in the Table 1. If you do not know the average weight of your cowherd you can use your cull cow receipts to get a rough idea.
Table 1. Energy (TDN) and Protein (CP) requirements for 1200 lb cow.

Table 2. Example diets to replace hay with supplements to maintain a Body Condition Score of 5, 4 months post calving.*

* These expressed as fed values ** Will only maintain current BCS for a 30-45 day period. A higher quality hay may be needed.
These diets were created assuming that the only forage you are providing is the hay. You can substitute the forage that you are trying to stretch for the hay I used in this example but you will need to establish the nutrient value of the forage. These scenarios only provide a moderate reduction of hay usage. More extreme measures will involve adding a substantial amount of corn and other energy feedstuffs into the diet which may not be any more economical than purchasing the hay you need. In any case, all supplemental feeds should be priced according to the nutrient(s) that you are interested in.
Vitamin and Mineral Nutrition Vitamin and mineral supplementation is too often overlooked during droughty weather, as it is thought of as an unnecessary cost, but I argue that there are many vital biological functions that are linked to vitamin and mineral nutrition. Compounded with the fact that forages that are drought stressed can be highly variable in there nutrient content, and very low in vitamins A and E. It is very important that you supply a balanced mineral supplement to the entire herd.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 225-578-2416 or kharborth@agcenter.lsu.edu. Hopefully the rains that are currently blessing most of the state will be the start of a wetter trend. Karl Harborth, Extension Beef Specialist, LSU AgCenter
References: “Louisiana Beef Cattle Producer Guide to Coping with Drought Conditions”. Accessed 6/20/2011 at http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/7E18EC16-D993-418C-AC73-9F87E8EF6784/28706/ LABeefCattleProducerGuidetoCopingwithDroughtCondit.pdf
National Research Council. Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle. 2000
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