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Lessons Learned by a The Midwest Cattleman · October 1, 2020 · P17

Cattleman in 2020

By Stan Smith, OSU Extension
Having grown up in the 50’s Cover crops aren’t just ticularly in these
and 60’s, the experience of so- cover crops times of limited
cial distancing and self-quar- The value of utilizing cover forage and bed-
antine in recent months crops for feed or bedding is ding supplies.
hasn’t really been too much well documented in Ohio.
of a struggle for me. After- Cover crops fed to beef cattle continued on
all, if you grew up on a farm remain a valuable asset par- page 30
in rural Ohio in those days,
the only time you saw anyone
but your closest neighbor was
at the feed mill, church, or
baseball practice. Speaking of
baseball, another lesson from
those days that’s served me
well is when in a close game,
you don’t want to be sitting on
a fastball if the pitcher you’re
facing can throw a change-
up for a strike. Suffice to say,
Mother Nature continues to
prove she can throw any pitch
she wants, at any time, and
throw it for a strike.
To suggest we’ve needed
to remain flexible this year
would be an understatement.
However, much like experi-
ences from past years serve
us well today, at some point
we’ll draw on the challenges
of 2020 to our benefit. Until
then, let’s reflect on our re-
cent past.

Too wet plus Too dry is not
just right
After experiencing three
consecutive winter and
springs of near record precip-
itation, followed by dry sum-
mers, is it time to assemble a
feed management plan that
buffers the cow herd against
stresses resulting from foul
weather? Feeding pads, man-
aged rotational bale grazing,
or stockpiled forage all go a
long way towards keeping
cows out of the mud. While
managed grazing requires
less investment, a feeding
pad allows forages to be pro-
cessed and bunk fed for more
efficiency, and when needed,
blended with additional pro-
tein or energy from by-prod-
uct feed sources.
We can’t starve a profit
into a cow, and feed quality,
feed waste, and cow condition
must be monitored utilizing a
variety of tactics.