Pasture and Feed Costs for Mixed Grass/Legume Pastures and Stockpiled Forage

The primary focus of any cattle enterprise should be forage production. Even though the major portion of the income is from cattle, the production of forage is still the greatest limiting factor. However, marketing this forage can be approached in several ways, including cow-calf or stocker cattle or hay production. These choices oftentimes are based on personal preferences. The complicated part is not which method to choose, but rather how the choice affects profitability potential.

The 2001 Range and Pasture survey conducted by the OSU Cooperative Extension Service suggested the misuse of common forage management practices, such as fertilization and stocking rate by forage and livestock producers. Additional information highlighted that many current forage/livestock producers are part-time producers with goals and expectations that may not be completely profit motivated. This survey also indicated a heavy dependence on feeding hay during the winter. A small percentage of producers feed hay less than 30 days and less than 10% feed hay fewer than 60 days. Seventy seven percent indicated that feeding hay for longer than 60 days was common and 34% fed hay longer than 120 days.

An Ongoing Demonstration:

An integrated pasture management demonstration project with 183 acres at the Eastern Research Station was developed to illustrate the effects of fall fertilization on production of tall fescue for winter grazing, proper fertility management for legume persistence, and proper grazing management. Proper stocking rates and proper pasture management are an integral part of this project. This is because these two factors have a pronounced influence on the profitability of the forage-livestock enterprise. Recent efforts have demonstrated that small- to medium-sized forage/livestock operations should be managed as a resource rather than a cattle operation. Almost 75% of 183 acres have been managed in a sustainable pasture system since 1988. Proper stocking rates and proper pasture management are an integral part of this project. This is because these two factors have a pronounced influence on the profitability of the forage-livestock enterprise. The major purpose is to highlight potential means to improve net return without using excessive inputs or management strategies.

Tradeoff: Nitrogen Fertilizer vs Legumes

Two areas of focus that have the potential to significantly reduce the reliance on stored feeds are using legumes to maintain pasture productivity and using stockpiled forages in late fall and early winter to minimize hay feeding. Using legumes in a pasture system has an added advantage of reducing high N rates common in the production of introduced grasses. However, it is necessary to apply N fertilizer to pastures by early September to increase the likelihood that adequate amounts of stockpiled forage will be produced. Even though several of the input costs were different for the two years, the total costs associated with producing forage, as well as the total cost per cow were similar (Table 1).

Assuming a winter-feeding cost of $1 per head per day, the cost for the 45-day hay-feeding season in 2002-2003 for the 75-cow herd was $3375 for 75 cow/calf pairs (Table 2). Due to favorable precipitation during the fall of 2003, the hay-feeding season in 2003-2004 for the same 75 cows was 17 days less. This resulted in an $18.53 savings per cow in total winter-feeding costs (pasture costs + haying costs).

Hay Feeding is Costly:

Due to the amount of time and expense involved in feeding hay, areas of greatest potential impact appear to be efforts that reduce the reliance on harvested forage for winter-feeding programs. Modest savings of $0.50 to $1.00 per head per day could result in additional income of $2250 up to $4500 for a 75-cow beef herd by decreasing the length of the hay-feeding season from 120 days to 60 days.

How much Hay is Needed?

A cow needs approximately 30 pounds of good quality hay per day, although they will eat more if it available. To account for wastage during feeding, each cow should be fed between 35 and 40 pounds per day. Over a 30-day period, this adds up to between 1000 and 1200 pounds. To account for the losses associated storage, which can be as high as 10% for a round bale stored outside for 10 months, and other wastage a producer needs to produce (or buy) almost one ton of hay per month per cow.

Decreasing the number of days that hay is fed does not happen overnight. It requires a significant amount planning that may take several months. A reasonable hay-feeding season should last no more than 60 days. With some planning and a little luck, it is possible to decrease the number of hay feeding days to between 30 and 45 days.

Dr. Daren Redfearn
Extension Forage and Pasture Management Specialist