It may be best to plan on 2 tons or 5 round bales weighing 800 pounds each, just for safety’s sake. Apply nitrogen as needed on hybrid bermudagrass hay, as 1 ton of hay removes 50 pounds of nitrogen, 14 pounds of phosphorus and 43 pounds of potassium from the land.
Whatever hay is put up is certainly better off in dry storage. Whether in a barn or covered in a well-drained area, you will save a lot of tonnage, money and effort put forth harvesting the haycrop. Never store hay under tree lines or as uncovered stacks in the Southeast.
Grazing is usually the most economical option when the weather cooperates. As a way to reduce hay needs, set up multiple grazing paddocks to improve soil fertility, improve utilization and reduce overgrazed pastures.
Spring calving
Remove bulls on June 20 for January-to-March calving. Young bulls will be thin. Penning bulls in a small pasture with supplemental feed will help them recover from breeding season weight loss, which can be as much as 3 pounds per day. Mixing bulls together is risky.
Take every measure to separate bulls that won’t get along. There are too many stories of destroyed fencelines, dead or injured bulls and police chasing bulls through subdivisions. A bull is a necessity for most producers. Protect this valuable investment.
Fall calving
After culling open cows and poor producing cows, make a plan for replacements. Small producers can benefit by using a terminal cross and purchasing heifers. The words “terminal cross” get some folks thinking that means changing sire breed. That’s not exactly true. Multiple mainstream breeds have terminal lines and terminal index expected progeny differences.
Finding bulls with the right growth and carcass traits can be a definite marketing opportunity on your calf crop. However, this doesn’t mean the heifers out of those bulls will make good replacements, particularly over multiple generations.
Breed associations are more open about the fact that using terminal indexes as the main sire selection tool is not recommended when heifers will be retained in the herd. 
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Jason Duggin
- Beef Extension Specialist
- University of Georgia
- Email Jason Duggin
