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Planning For Winter Stocker Management

Drought in the South, winter forage in the North, availability and cost of feedstuffs and hay, all make for an interesting winter in the stocker industry.

By James I. Sprague, PhD, Nutritionist

Stockers back to grass

Here are a few ideas that come to mind after watching cattle operators over the years. With the high price of winter feed ingredients this fall, the feeding program for stocker cattle, that is cattle that will go back to grass next spring, present critical management decisions.

Feeding programs will vary depending if the cattle are located on the Southern Plains, the Northern Plains, or the Midwest. The cattle operations in the droughty areas of Texas, Oklahoma and southern Kansas are facing a challenge because of sparse amount of native pasture, plus high hay and grain prices. The Dakotas and Nebraska have good winter forage including corn stock fields. Certainly the high value of light weight cattle coming off droughty pastures make planning a winter feeding program for stocker cattle important. Cattle operators that will take these stockers back to spring grass are considering several alternatives.

Certainly one of the alternatives is not take these cattle back to grass, but growing them and possible finishing. Grain prices have come down in price since mid summer of 2011. However, hay prices are still high. Therefore, the economic advantage of wintering light cattle on limited-fed grow rations is another alternative.

Rations for stockers

One of the old time principles of wintering cattle that will go back to grass is “winter gains at the expense of summer gains.” It is well known that fleshy cattle in the spring will gain less on summer pastures than thin steers or heifers. However, the total gain of a strong winter growing time plus a shorter summer grazing period is also a sound alternative.

The second principle of winter feeding is protein and minerals, which are critical for growth and feed utilization. One development of winter supplementation is the use of medium protein distiller’s grains and corn gluten feeds. These two feeds have helped stocker and growing cattle operations supplement protein as well as energy.

Planning for snow cover

I have experienced cattle digging under the snow with their hooves to reach second or third growth alfalfa. One of the nice things about big round bales of forage is they can be delivered to pastures when snow cover appears. Work with your nutritionist and design some limited intake rations to be used during inclement weather conditions. These rations in some cases are fed under a fence so all the cattle can consume their share of the rations.

Alternate day supplementation

This method of supplying protein supplement every other day has been used successfully for generations by ranchers. However, the research for stocker cattle shows a benefit of a little extra gain for every day of supplementation. One of my clients over the years always skipped Sunday feedings for their stocker or growing pens too. They would clean the bunks on Mondays.

One, two or three pound-per-day of supplement?

I asked one of my customers why he fed two pounds of supplement rather than one pound. He explained that their system of “caking” the cattle with two pounds and sometimes three pounds or more gave the timid or younger cattle a chance to get their share.

Liquids, blocks, tubs, cubes?

The feed manufacturing industry can offer supplements in several forms. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Any supplement that contains non-protein-nitrogen, such as urea or ammonium sulfate, must be fed with provisions to control intake to prevent over consumption and possible death loss. One of the problems of manufacturing range cubes supplements is fines in the product. Some suppliers can screen out the fines before the product is bagged and in some cases before bulk delivery. Working closely with your feed supplier and nutritionist is advised.