Feed & Nutrition

Young cattle can jump fences. There’s nothing new about that. We usually blame the fence – for being old and in the way – or the heifers and steers, for being … well … heifers and steers.

Producers have been growing and finishing calves to put in the freezer as long as there have been freezers. This has been a common process for years, especially in areas where the rural, cattle-owning population was greater than it is today.

During any given production year on the ranch, cows and heifers are faced with nutritional and environmental stressors. They have periods of high and low nutritional demands.

It’s no secret that agricultural costs climbed through 2021. Nitrogen is twice as expensive as it was last year, natural gas is about 50% more expensive than this time last year and the price of gasoline more than doubled as well.

Disclaimer: You might want to sit down before reading this. Or have a stiff drink in your hand.

That’s because you’re about to read the weather outlook – and it ain’t pretty.

Beef cattle have been supplemented fat for years. The primary reason being that supplemental fats are a concentrated source of energy containing nearly two to three times the net energy of cereal grains.