17 September 2012

2 minute read

North America

At the Brazos Valley Beef and Forage Expo and E.D. “Doug” Davidson Hay Testing programme held recently at the Brazos County Expo Center, a number of experts discussed topics of interest to area ranchers. Dr Ron Gill, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist in College Station, said producers need to choose replacement heifers and cattle that are best adapted to their environment.

“You also need to find cattle that you can breed to the right bull, producing the calf quality and traits that you need,” he said.

“Appropriate frame size is another thing to consider. We tend to get cattle that are big. When we go back in and restock, get some cattle that are more moderately framed perhaps so (ranchers) can run more of them on a given piece of land and produce more calves. Your total pounds produced per acre normally goes up when you have smaller cows on an operation. If you look at total pounds produced, that’s the business we are in; selling pounds and getting more pounds per acre.”

Dr Gill said he sees some Texas ranchers holding off and patiently waiting before restocking.
,br> “I think they are waiting and I’m encouraging them to wait until the timing is right,” he said. “We need to be ready to rebuild and look for some bargains.”

Dr Gill said some cattle shipped out of state last year during the Texas drought may need to come back to the Lone Star State as drought has ravaged the Midwest and parts of the southeastern US. He said there may be potential to pick up some cattle at bargain prices for these type of cattle, but overall urges producers to ease back into restocking and be mindful of good biosecurity practices.

“Biosecurity is a huge component to this restocking deal,” he said. “It’s also another reason to ease back into it.”