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While it’s true that Agriculture is enjoying some record or near record dollar receipts for commodity goods, input costs are rising and thus need to be managed. Everything costs more these days. From fuel to food, no one can escape all the rising costs. In this economy, we should all be challenged to find what the best buy is for the dollar and match purchases to our needs, goals and objectives.

Livestock supplements are no different. Cost factors are real and price volatility seems to be the norm these days. Beef producers today are scrutinizing all input costs more now than ever. Some are even tempted to abandon supplementation practices or drastically ration them; but cattle nutrient requirements are not related to the ingredient markets, so doing this would have negative consequences. The need for supplementation didn’t go away, and if we want to continue to have and market healthy productive animals, we cannot afford to neglect nutrition. Still the challenge is to determine the best value for a purchase.

Price is What's Paid, Value is What's Received

First, one can evaluate the true cost of a supplement beyond the purchase price. Evaluate how a given supplement program can help save on other input costs such as fuel, labor, equipment cost, etc. A bargain supplement or feed really isn’t a bargain if more dollars are spent to feed it, store it or handle it.

Even cheap supplements cost money, and again, if a bargain perceived supplement is not “managed” correctly, it actually becomes a waste of money or a bigger cost. I see this much too often with free-choice mineral supplements where a problem with performance is not as much the mineral, but the management (or lack of). I’ll save this discussion for another blog as one could write a book on this topic.

The same is true in evaluating quality of a supplement; take time to truly evaluate what you are buying. For example, with Low Moisture Blocks there are competing brands and formulations with equal protein content and feeding levels that would differ as much as $200 per ton.  This $200 sounds like a lot, but when evaluating cost per head per day (which we should always do), a $200 per ton difference on a supplement that is consumed at ¾ of a lb. per head per day translates to 7.5 cents. So, if you are already committed to spend 25-30 cents for a protein, vitamin, mineral supplement and are evaluating multiple brands or formulations, what more is received for spending another nickel? More than likely a significantly higher level of trace minerals and vitamins, a medication or additive that improves performance is gained. Other benefits would also exist such as better quality assurance; better service from a supplier, additional applications of supplement, packaging options, and the list could go on. 

Another way to describe this above is “value-added” or getting a 50-100% improvement in the supplement for only 20% more cost. When evaluating supplement strategies, be sure to look at the supplement value in terms of, you get what you pay for and think of other things you buy. A $40,000 ¾ ton 4WD pickup can offer a lot more than a $25,000 ½ ton 2WD. The most cost effective supplement is usually not the one that costs the least.

Most producers can’t wait for green grass to appear in the Spring and cattle to be turned out on pastures soon after. The demands for supplemental nutrition and feeding programs go by the wayside and thoughts turn to farming activities, breeding cows, making hay, etc. It is a great time to be in the cattle business as your herd does what it does best, turn forages into lean red meat or breed up for next year’s crop.

Most often, forages can provide ample energy for optimal cow, or stocker performance, especially early in the grazing season. Free-choice mineral and vitamin supplementation is a convenient way to deliver macro and micro nutrients required for optimal cow herd reproduction stocker animal performance. These supplements are critical for providing grazing livestock key nutrients or feed additives that maximize production while on pasture. Delivery of trace minerals, macro minerals or feed additives that can include fly control products or ionophores simply make these types of supplements critical for both cow herd and stocker animal performance. They come in a variety of self-fed forms such as loose granular meals, pressed mineral blocks or low-moisture blocks or tubs.

There are also times, such as those we are experiencing in the Southern part of the U.S., where extremely dry environmental conditions disrupt normal grazing and historical nutrition programs and cause us to look at alternative means in order to avoid what could be small reductions in pregnancy rates or even large losses in animal performance if pasture conditions erode quickly.

Drought conditions can speed up the maturity of forages as well as diminish the quantity or supply of forages that are available for your herd. The ability of pastures to support rapid gains in animal performance goes down as forages mature. In drought conditions, supplemental protein can help maintain animal performance and stretch your pastures as forage quality declines. As drought persists and forage availability becomes limiting, supplemental protein becomes less of a benefit because actual energy in the diet becomes limiting. Diet replacement with supplemental hay will become necessary once pasture conditions have been depleted.

Major decisions need to be made for retaining the core breeding herd. If stocking rates surpass the amount of forage that is available, energy will become limiting and stocker weight gains or cow condition will soon deteriorate. Stocker cattle are some of the more dispensable assets in grazing programs as they are destined for the feed yards. They can simply be moved to the yards sooner rather than later. A cow herd on the other hand is an investment in genetics as well as the base investment from which cow-calf producers draw their annual income. Rather than trying to hold on to the entire breeding herd if drought conditions persist, business decisions need to be made to determine if purchased feeds can support a smaller genetic base as opposed to a complete dispersal. The Southern part of the U.S. is under severe drought conditions and many of these areas have already run out of grass to maintain their herds.

It is hard to believe the differences that exist in the U.S. in terms of pasture and forage conditions from the deep south to the northern plains. Excessive spring moisture conditions in many areas in the midwest and central U.S. have resulted in an abundant supply of forages and tremendous pasture conditions. The situation is reversed for most of Texas, NM, Arizona and other southern states. It may be tempting to skip out on supplemental inputs when forage supplies are abundant, but mineral and vitamin supplements fed at low levels provide critical nutrients that make sure performance is optimized. If you are facing extremely dry conditions, be proactive in your nutrition program by extending your forages and pastures with supplemental protein. If dry conditions persist, have a plan in place to maintain your core breeding herd so you will be prepared to get back into production once moisture returns.

Most cattlemen realize the advantages of using a mineral supplement for grazing cattle in the summer. Most cattlemen are also aware that, in the fall, a protein supplement will greatly improve the utilization of mature grass.

So, at what point between summer and fall should one start using a protein supplement versus just a mineral supplement? The technical answer would be when the grass cannot supply adequate protein for the animal. For grazing yearlings this would be when crude protein of the grass falls under 12%. For the lactating cow, the level of crude protein required will be greatly impacted by her level of milk production, and will generally decrease over the summer months.

Roughly, it will drop from 11% at the beginning of the summer to 8% or lower prior to weaning. Unless you are able to sample grass, and test it for crude protein content, this still does not tell you when you could see a benefit from using a protein supplement on grass.

There is one thing you can easily do, and that is observe the maturity of the grass in your pastures. Once grass shoots a seed head, crude protein content and digestibility decline rapidly. We must remember that drought will further hasten this decline as well. As grass becomes mature and begins to lose its green color, you are most certainly in a satiation where protein supplements will provide a boost to cattle performance.  This is likely to be earlier in the summer with yearling cattle than with beef cows.

The table below will give you some idea how fast the forage quality will decline in just a months’ time.

Self-fed protein supplements can greatly increase forage utilization in late summer and fall. Depending on the form of supplement used, costs can range between 30 and 60 cents per head per day (including delivery costs).  They can also draw cattle into underutilized areas of a pasture to further “stretch” that pasture. Both of these attributes of self-fed supplements are very beneficial when drought conditions exist.