Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Beef producers in the Southern Great Plains and the Southeastern United States, fellow scientists working with beef cattle production systems in the SE United States and Southern Plains, and Cooperative Extension personnel in Oklahoma and SE US. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentation to professional meetings:Using a 100% dried distiller's grains cube as a supplement for steers grazing mixed-grass prairie in Oklahoma, Presented at Southern Section American Society of Animal Science.Evaluating supplementation programs for growing calves grazing bermudagrass pastures presented to the American Society of Animal Science National Meeting. Presentations to extension audiences:"Supplementation Programs for Growing Cattle on Native Range and Old World Bluestems" Woods County Beef Cattle Update, Alva, OK, March 12, 2020."Cattle management on tamegrasses: tall fescue and bermudagrass". Kansas State University Tamegrass Stocker Field Day. Girard, KS. February 20, 2020."Oklahoma State University Research Update." 5 States Beef Conference, Boise City, OK November 14, 2019."Fitting DDGS cubes into supplementation programs for growing cattle" MasterHand Milling Dealer Video Conference, April 22, 2020. (online)."Late Summer Supplementation of Steers Grazing Warm Season Pastures" Rancher's Thursday Lunchtime Webinar Series. July 31, 2020. (online) Shared results of ongoing research through articles in popular press and the beef.okstate.edu website What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue research efforts currently underway, summarize results, and publish findings. Field Days will be planned to highlight the results of research at each of the research facilities.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Dried distiller's grains have been a widely used supplement for cattle in various feeding operations. Little, to no starch, high energy, and high bypass protein content are a few of the main upsides to the use of DDGS in a cattle growing operation. However, loose DDGS have not been used extensively in a pasture setting due to the potential loss of product from wind or in the dirt and soil. We are researching the effects of a distiller's cube supplemented to growing steers grazing mixed-grass prairie in western Oklahoma. This research was conducted at the Marvin Klemme Range Research Station near Bessie, Oklahoma in Washita County and at the USDA ARS Southern Plains Experimental Range [SPER] near Fort Supply, Oklahoma in Harper County in order to test the theory that stocking rates can be increased by replacing a fraction of the daily forage intake with supplementation while avoiding negative impacts on animal performance and native range condition. Three treatments were initiated at Fort Supply and two treatments were initiated at Klemme. Treatments at SPER were: 1) Negative Control, no supplementation, 2) Positive Control, supplemented with DDGS cubes 2 lbs/steer on alternate days in late summer, 3) High Supplement, 1/3 increase in stocking rate, 0.75% BW Supplemental DDGS cubes all season. At Klemme, only the Positive Control (2.5 lbs/steer on alternate days in late summer) and High Supplement were included in the experiment. Steers at Klemme were assigned to six pastures, three stocked at 4 acres/head (High Supplement) and three pastures stocked at 6 acres/head (Positive Control). The SPER site had steers assigned to 12 pastures stocked at 3.5 acres/head (High Supplement) and 5.5 acres/head (Positive and Negative Control). Findings: Upon arrival, the steers weighed 529 ± 46 lbs at Klemme and 496 ± 51 lbs at SPER. In Klemme for the early summer (May 22-July 23), the steers on High Supplement gained 52 ± 16 lbs more (P ≤ 0.03) than the Positive Control steers. The ADG followed suit with the early season body weight gain per steer with High Supplement steers gaining approximately 0.9 lb more per day than Positive Control steers. Late summer (July 23-September31), when Positive Control steers were being fed supplement there was no difference (P = 0.63) in ADG at Klemme. Early summer ADG at SPERS saw similar results for the early summer (May 17-July 18) where the High Supplement steers performance was compared to a Negative and Positive Control resulting in a gain of 32 ± 13 lbs (P ≤ 0.03) and 37 ± 13 lbs (P ≤ 0.01) more than each, respectively. Early summer ADG of High Supplement at SPERS steers was 0.63 lbs (P ≤ 0.01) more per day than both Positive and Negative Controls. Late summer ADG for High Supplement compared to Negative Control steers was 1.00 ± 0.16 lbs (P ≤ 0.01) more per day. High Supplementation outperformed Positive Control by 0.36 ± 0.6 lbs (P ≤ .05) per day. At Klemme, the gain per acre was 41 ± 4 lbs (P ≤ 0.01) more for High Supplement steers than Positive Control steers. Fort Supply showed a similar response with 47 ± 3 lbs (P ≤ 0.01) and 38 ± 3 lbs (P ≤ 0.01) higher gain per acre for High Supplement than the Negative and Positive Controls, respectively. The enhanced performance of High Supplement was very efficient at Klemme requiring only 2.8 pounds of feed for each pound of added gain compared with Positive Controls. At the SPERS site, the Positive Controls required only 2.7 pounds of supplement per pound of added gain compared with Negative Control, while the High Supplement treatment required 3.8 pounds of supplement per added pound of gain per acre.Feeding the DDGS cubes during the late summer only at SPRRS increased profitability per steer by $29.69 and $5.40/acre. When stocking rates were increased with summer long supplementation, net returns per steer were increased by over $38.50/steer and $14/acre compared with Negative Control at SPRRS even though supplement costs were over $107 per head ($30.50 per acre). Because of the increase in stocking rate, High Supplement increased returns per steer by $8.82 and by $9/acre at SPRRS because of the increased performance and reduced land rent cost per head. At the Klemme Range site (Table 2) even though the total cost per acre increased by $12.88 with the High Supplement treatment, improved animal performance and increased stocking rates resulted in increased profit per steer of $34.15/steer and $18.08/acre. Increased performance with higher stocking rate more than offset increased expenses associated with labor and supplement purchase in this analysis.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Grigsby, Z. N., P. A. Beck, and S. A. Gunter.2020. Using a 100% dried distillers grains cube as a supplement for steers grazing mixed grass prairie in Oklahoma. J. Anim. Sci. 98 (Suppl. )
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Garcia, T. J., C. A. Robinson, P. A. Beck, R. R. Reuter, B. K. Wilson, and D. L. Lalman. 2020 Effect of calving season in an artificial insemination program on finishing performance and carcass traits. J. Anim. Sci. 98 (Suppl. )
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Beck, P. A., M. R. Beck, S. A. Gunter, J. T. Biermacher, and R. L. Gillen 2020. Stocking rate impacts performance and economics of grazing beef steers on mixed grass prairies of the Southern Great Plains. Trans. Anim. Sci. 4:txaa134 https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txaa134
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