Maintaining your pasture during the summer can take much work. It can go from adequate moisture to extremely dry in no time. Managers must be on their game to keep their pasture from suffering too much.
Though I don’t know how it is where you are here in West Texas, it can be a challenging job keeping pastures productive during this time. It seems most years that mother nature does not want to cooperate with you and hold back needed moisture.
While you can not control the weather, there are steps that you can take to give your forages a chance. Things like rotational grazing and the correct stocking rate can go a long way. Here are some things to consider when you are facing another dry summer.
Feed costs remain the single largest expense for any cattle producer. Depending on different factors this expense can easily be half of the total annual expenses for a rancher.
Mineral supplementation is an essential component for any successful cattle operation. They are the building blocks for things like growth, reproduction, and basic maintenance. It is important that your cattle get all of the minerals that their body needs.
Spring is almost around the corner. The temperatures will soon start to rise and the grass, hopefully, will begin to grow again. For most people, pasture management comes to mind when the temperatures start to rise but that is not necessarily the case. It is important to get a start on it now.
A new year is approaching for the cattle industry. Though we have had our issues this past year, like the drought, new opportunities are bound to return. It may not look like it but there are always positives to be found if you know how to look, even in our yoyo industry.
A wheat pasture is a valuable resource for many cattle operations. This plant is a valuable source of high-quality forage when most other forages are low in quantity and quality. The unique climate in areas of the Southern plains, like here in Texas can allow producers to use wheat as both a forage and a grain crop. This can potentially increase the overall profitability of many operations.
Drought can be a very devastating thing to deal with. Forages stop producing, making it difficult for ranchers to make it. All in all, drought can make things seem pretty bleak while going through it.
Maintaining your pasture during the summer can be very tricky. In no time at all, it can go from adequate moisture to extremely dry. A manager has to be on their game to keep their pasture from suffering too much.
Fertilizer costs have increased a lot over the last few decades, even more over the last year. An example of this is that nitrogen fertilizer has doubled in just the last 2 years. With the way things are going it is not looking it will change for the better any time soon.
