\nRoger Gates<\/strong>, Whitfield County Agriculture and Natural Resource Agent, UGA Cooperative Extension<\/h4>\n
This year has proved to be quite an interesting one.\u00a0 Most producers were able to put up plenty of hay.\u00a0 However, due to average to above average rainfall, a large proportion of the hay produced was harvested at a later than ideal maturity.\u00a0 Based on the samples submitted to the UGA Feed and Environmental Water Laboratory, we are dealing with lower quality forage for winter feeding.\u00a0 For producers with a late winter\/spring calving season, this could cause potential issues.\u00a0 Combining this with a few other observations, here are a few situations we are seeing, and the potential ramifications.<\/p>\n
- \n
- I will restrict feed in the last trimester to decrease calf birth weights.<\/li>\n
- I need more protein to go with my hay<\/li>\n
- There is a tendency to\u00a0under<\/em>\u00a0estimate crude protein and\u00a0over<\/em>\u00a0estimate energy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
I will restrict feed in the last trimester to decrease calf birth weights.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Is this correct?\u00a0 Absolutely!\u00a0 The problem is that is not the only thing it will affect.\u00a0 Recent research has focused on fetal programming.\u00a0 Fetal programming is the concept that maternal stimulus or insult during fetal development has long-term effects on the offspring.\u00a0 One of the most critical aspects of fetal programming involves adequate nutrition, or lack thereof, for the dam.\u00a0 Research has shown minimal impact on calf birth weights, however restricted nutrition during the last trimester decreased weaning weights, finishing weights, and hot carcass weights.\u00a0 Additionally, research from Nebraska indicated that heifers from nutritionally restricted cows reached puberty 14 days later than those with proper nutrition.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nI need more protein to go with my hay<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Is this correct? Possibly, however protein is only half of the equation.\u00a0 From April 1 to November 1 of this year, 1,260 bermudagrass hay samples and 291 fescue hay samples were submitted to the UGA lab.\u00a0 The mean crude protein and energy (TDN) values were 12.1% and 53.4%, respectively for\u00a0\u00a0bermudagrass, and 14.2% and 55.2%, respectively for fescue.\u00a0 Figure 1 represents the CP and TDN requirements of a brood cow throughout the production year.\u00a0 As you can see, as cows are entering the\u00a0\u00a0final trimester, their CP requirement is exceeded by the average bermudagrass and fescue sample, but the energy requirement falls short for bermudagrass.\u00a0 More importantly, the CP requirement is met for peak lactation, but falls tremendously short for TDN.<\/p>\n
There is a tendency to\u00a0under<\/em>\u00a0estimate crude protein and\u00a0over<\/em>\u00a0estimate energy<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0The cheapest money you will ever spend in a beef cattle operation is a forage test, guaranteed!!!\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>As part of the recent Master Cattlemen\u2019s Program, Dr. Roger Gates offered free forage testing for participants along with a survey for producers asking them to estimate\u00a0what they thought the quality of the hay was (prior to testing).\u00a0 This survey resulted in 83% of producers under estimating the protein of their hay compared to the actual.\u00a0 This would result in the purchasing protein supplement when not needed.\u00a0 For energy, 50% over estimated energy.\u00a0 This would result in
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/beef\/files\/2018\/11\/Snip20181113_4-300x145.png\")
<\/a>depriving needed energy during late gestation and early location.\u00a0 In addition to the previously discussed fetal programming issues, this could also cause delayed breeding.\u00a0 An actual example of over estimation of energy is illustrated in Figure 2.\u00a0 The over estimation could likely result in breeding delayed 42 days.\u00a0 The resulting loss in weaning weight could easily reach 80 lb, resulting in an approximate $120 decrease in value per calf.\u00a0 Through forage testing, the producer would know to feed 4 lb\/d of a supplement such as corn gluten feed.\u00a0 Based on\u00a0a 25-cow herd, this could easily return $1,920 above cost.\u00a0 That is a no-brainer!<\/p>\nBrood cow nutrition is a crucial part of a beef cattle operation.\u00a0 Between fetal programing and maintaining the proper calving interval, it is imperative for producers to pay close attention to the nutrients available in their forages, and if they meet the requirements of their herd.\u00a0 If you have any questions on nutrition, hay testing, or developing winter feeding strategies, contact your local Cooperative Extension office (extension.uga.edu, or 1-800-ASK-UGA-1).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hello everyone, attached you will find some good information about nutritional considerations this season going into calving written by the UGA Specialist and an ag agent in collaboration. Lawton Stewart, Extension Animal Scientist, UGA Roger Gates, Whitfield County Agriculture and Natural Resource Agent, UGA Cooperative Extension This year has proved to be quite an interesting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fertility","category-forages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/worthag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/beef\/files\/2018\/11\/Snip20181113_4.png\")
<\/a>depriving needed energy during late gestation and early location.\u00a0 In addition to the previously discussed fetal programming issues, this could also cause delayed breeding.\u00a0 An actual example of over estimation of energy is illustrated in Figure 2.\u00a0 The over estimation could likely result in breeding delayed 42 days.\u00a0 The resulting loss in weaning weight could easily reach 80 lb, resulting in an approximate $120 decrease in value per calf.\u00a0 Through forage testing, the producer would know to feed 4 lb\/d of a supplement such as corn gluten feed.\u00a0 Based on\u00a0a 25-cow herd, this could easily return $1,920 above cost.\u00a0 That is a no-brainer!<\/p>\n