MORA, Minn. — Beef cattle can graze many things, but grazing cover crops may be new for many.
Anytime livestock move into a new eating regime, there can be performance and cost fluctuations. Eric Mousel, part of the University of Minnesota’s Beef Team, shared some of his observations during the recently ended Cow Calf Days Seminar Tour and Trade Show.
In 2011, Mousel first took a look at beef on cover crops. His findings were generally unfavorable for growing cattle due to quality, dry matter and other factors. The one beneficial takeaway: "The economics of grazing have always been favorable, regardless of performance, even at a half-pound of gain per day," Mousel said.
This fall, along with Mora-area beef farmer Troy Salzer, Mousel took another look.
"I wanted to know: Could we manipulate the dry matter? Does it help to supplement? How about utilization? Do they really eat the turnip bulbs? How does cover crop quality change over time?" Mousel said.
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On Aug. 19, 16 acres of Salzer’s farm was seeded to a oat-winter rye-purple-top turnip-Austrian winter pea-field pea mix following an oats and turnips crop. Fifty-three Angus cross heifers at roughly 750 pounds were turned out on the cover crop from mid-October through early November. They received free-choice hay and were supplemented with a one-third dried distiller’s grains, two-thirds corn screenings mix at a rate of 7 pounds per head per day.
The heifers gained an average of 2.95 pounds per day. They ate 2.12 pounds of free-choice hay per head per day.
Since fall was on the warm side, the cover crops grew strongly, almost at the rate the heifers were consuming them. Utilization early was around 50 percent. Mousel had been skeptical, but the livestock did eat the turnip bulbs.
Forage quality for the covers did change over time. By the second week, moisture and protein levels started to drop a little bit.
On the economics side, the cost to establish the cover crop was about $34 per ton of available forage, including fertilizer. Put another way, it was about $0.53 per pound of gain.
"To me that’s pretty high, but it may not be for others," Mousel said.
Mousel’s takeaways: Yes, cattle will respond to supplements and dry matter, but cost effectiveness depends on the individual system.
To connect those with land they would like grazed (including cover cropped land, land in a Conservation Reserve Program contract or crop residues) and those looking for additional grazing area, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture has created the Cropland Grazing Exchange, which can be found online at mda.state.mn.us/cge. Visitors can search for land or for livestock. Some details about each entity, along with contact information, are listed. Farmers will be able to add their own offering if they like by inputting some pertinent information. The site is in demonstration mode with fictional information for the curious now, but will be live on March 1.
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People who are interested in learning more about grazing management can look into the Minnesota Grazing School, set for September in Grand Rapids, Minn. Watch for more details this summer.
