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Which circle are you operating in? What a strangequestion for a Beef Newsletter! Yet, the following idea, if new to you, may have an important impacton your operation.

You may already be living life in this way--taking care of the things (big or little) we can take care of and refusing to worry about the rest. I'm not sure who originally came up with the idea but it sounds hauntingly like something I have read

in the Bible. Covey’s book, 7 Habits of HighlyEffective People, also discusses the concept.

The concept is simple:

We choose to live in one of two places represented by two concentric circles. The circle of concern is simply all the things we think about, worry about, lose sleep over, complain about—none of which we can do anything about. Spending time like this causes us to be ineffective and at times even discouraged and depressed! We feel like a victim.

What are the things you think about--or worryabout-- that you can’t do anything about? Many ofus can come up with a list very quickly. On the otherhand, we can choose to work in our circle of influence. We think about and work on things that we can actually do something about. As we spend time on these matters, we make an amazing discovery. The more time spent here, the less time spent in that other circle, and our lives change and areas of influence grow! We begin seeing things

reas of influence grow! We begin seeing things change in our life for the better.

change in our life for the better. I understand that our current days are extremely challenging. My sincere hope is that within this newsletter there will be some small things within your Circle of Influence (things you can do something about) that, when practiced, will benefit you and your operation. We are here to help and support you—please call us or email us!

Lush Spring Pastures = Possible Magnesium Deficiency Dr. Lew Strickland, UT Extension

Spring with its green pastures is the time of year that cattle long for at the end of a long winter. These grasses will be lush and your cows will tear a fence down to get on these pastures, but these grasses also will be full of moisture and potentially diluted of minerals. This can lead to a condition known as grass tetany. Grass tetany is a highly fatal disease associated with low levels of magnesium (Mg) in the blood.

Circle of Concern

Circle of Influence

Circle of Influence

Circle of Concern

UT-TSU EXTENSION

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

EXTENSIONBEEF NEWS - SPRING 2020

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Grass tetany can affect all classes of cattle, but older cows with calves on their side during late winter and early spring are most at risk. Cattle store magnesium in their bones and muscles, but cannot readily access and utilize these stores when needed. The animal constantly loses magnesium in urine, feces and milk, so when grazing lush green magnesium-deficient grass, cattle need magnesium supplements to meet daily requirements. A cow in peak lactation (six to eight weeks following calving) needs a constant source of magnesium to replace the large amount lost from the body in milk.

Animals suffering from grass tetany are often found dead. There may be signs of struggle on the ground beside the animal indicating they were leg paddling before death. Early signs include some excitability with muscle twitching, an exaggerated awareness and a stiff gait. Animals may appear aggressive and may progress through galloping, bellowing and then staggering. In less severe cases the only signs may be a change in the character of the animal and difficulty in handling.

The goal of a well-managed prevention program should aim to:

Provide a balanced mineral source(block or loose) with high magnesiumduring this time of year or other formof extra magnesium (many commercialmineral mixes have “high-mag”options)

Increase energy and roughage intake.Good quality hay or silage is suitable.

Pellets or grain can be added ifintroduced carefully.

Move lactating cows (especially olderanimals) to high legume and high drymatter pastures.

Reduce stress factors

Efficiency….Again??

Many of you may already be tired of the new industry buzzword—efficiency. But in times of narrow or negative margins, efficiency is something that warrants a second look—and time considering. In this year’s Tennessee Master Beef class, we had a lively discussion regarding cow size and weaning weights! The fact of the matter is, there is no magic cow size, but some cows ARE more efficient than others. AND you’ll never know which ones ARE until you measure.

If your calf crop 205-day adjusted weaningweights are 550 lbs., but your cows weigh from 1100 to 1450 when the calves are weaned, some cows in your herd are more efficient than others. It costs less to feed the 1100 pound cow than the 1450 pound cow, yet they produced the same product (550 lb calf)—so the 1100 pound cow is more efficient.

The best way to determine efficiency is simple: Let me come out to your farm with our livestock scales, set the platform in your working alley, and weigh cows and calves as you wean/work them. You will know what each cow and her calf weighs at weaning. As

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we record this information for you, you will begin to have an actual percentage of body weight weaned for each animal in the herd. Assuming all cows are in a Body Condition Score of 5 to 6, the higher the percentage,the better for your operation’s bottom line. If you pay attention, you probably already have a good idea of the better performers but to have actual numbers will be a powerful decision-making tool for you.

Please give me a call to discuss this opportunity. Just let me know about when you plan to wean and we can make it work. The office phone is 931-648-5725.

You hear this from me every year. Let’s test your hay. Bottom line is—it will save you money in supplements, it will enable you to make wise supplement choices (if supplementation is needed), and it will teach about hay quality. It IS possible to put hay up in Tennessee that requires no supplementation for the cowherd. Think of it! No extra feed costs except for the hay itself. And if hay quality is less than you hoped for (sometimes weather and/or equipment don’t cooperate) you will know exactly what the hay

provides and what you need to supplement. Avoid insurance feeding! Insurance feeding is extra feed (and money spent) “just in case” because you don’t know what cows are eating or know their nutrient requirements. We can help with both. Here’s how: In late summer/early fall, we will offer reduced price hay tests. Please take advantage of this offer! Just call or email us to be added to the list. I’ll call you when we begin the reduced price period. Once the results are back, we can meet to discuss balancing a ration for your operation.

We also have two hay probes available for checkout. Just attach a drill to the probe and it will drill into round bales. We’ll be glad to explain the process when you call. These can be checked out at any time.

Quotes for Entertainment and for Further Thought……

“Ideas have consequences. What I believe, matters. Beliefs have power.”

“If you don’t step forward, you will always be in the same place.” Nora Roberts

“Every time you find some humor in a difficult situation, you win.”—unknown

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” ~Steven Hayes

Hay Testing

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Fertilization Tips when Dollars Are Tight

With the current cattle market situation, I’ve been having a few conversations with producers concerned about how to make the most financially sound fertilizer decision this spring. Where should they spend the limited money to reap the greatest benefit? I called Dr. Robert Florence who is over our Soils Lab and asked him for tips. Below are his ideas:

1. Adjust pH first. If it is too low (5.8 orlower), any amount of N, P, or K won’thave quite the same pound for poundimpact as getting the soil pH up around6.1 or so for most forages.

2. Nitrogen is next in importance—notjust the amount but at the right time insplit applications. For cool seasoncrops, split application would be in thespring and some in the fall. For warmseason crops, apply some beforeplanting and some after the 2nd or 3rd

cut. He also advised to be careful tonot overdo N on some warm seasonforages as nitrate toxicity could be aproblem.

3. P and K are important in forage cropsfor hay because hay removes largeamounts of P and K. If you are veryhigh in P or K, don’t worry aboutapplying any. If you were high andmoney was not an issue, you couldapply the P and K to maintain the soiltest level but you will not see a yieldresponse to the application. If mediumor low, then one should really considerapplying these after pH and N aretaken care of—you should see a yieldresponse.

4. Liebig’s Law of the Minimum—you canlay down all the N you want, but if the

next limiting factor is P or K, then the plant will only grow as the limiting factor allows.

5. Consider putting red and white cloverin a stand to lower N fertilizer cost overtime. This will also help with crudeprotein.

In regard to how to spend the money—his advice is to lime (if it is needed) first. If money is left over and P or K is needed, it may pay to drop some pounds off the N rate to spend it on the P or K as well. If you lay down 60 pounds of N and no P or K when it is needed, the crop may be limited, so maybe do 40 pounds of N and with the money you would have spent on the full N rate, put it into P and K.

Good Ideas….

Just a few weeks ago we held the Cow-Calf Conference in Springfield. Kevin Laurent with University of Kentucky Extension gave a very interesting talk. A few of his key points:

Consider your operation a system… Keep a systems approach. Know what your system (big picture) is and make decisions that will work together within your system; Example: If you have determined to limit input costs (supplemental feeding), be careful about milk EPDs. Milk has the largest impact on nutrient requirements—even more than cow size.

Regarding Body Condition Scoring.… Score your cows twice a year--at calving and at weaning. These times are key because if she is too thin when she weans a calf (below a 5), there is time for her to gain weight before she calves and needs to be rebred. If she is too thin at calving, it is very hard to correct and may be too late to correct in time for her to be re-bred and stay in sync with the rest of the

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cows. Remember it is hard to get cows bred when they are thinner than a 5.

Rebekah’s note---There are several free BCS apps for smart phones that are good. The apps provide pics of animals in each score and also provide ability for you to take a picture of each cow and score her. University of Nebraska has a good one...

I’ve heard this concept twice in the last six weeks and it makes sense. One of our speakers in Master Beef spoke of how we look at the cowherd and pick out the ones we really like. He suggested that it might make us more money to look for the ones that don’t fit (remember our systems approach) or may be going downhill—in other words keep an eye out for the ones that should be the next to go. Kevin Laurent went further as he explained that the best genetic selection comes from culling cows that don’t work and emphasized selecting genetics that match our resources (once again, our “system”). Regarding reproduction, because reproduction is lowly heritable, crossbreeding remains the best way to improve reproduction in your system. If you had to choose one type of animal in your operation for crossbreeding, make the cows crossbred.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Spring Forage Field Day: Date in Mayto be determined

Farm Safety Dinner Theater:July 30th—more details to come

Hay Testing (Reduced Price) thissummer— more details to come

TEMPERAMENT MATTERS…

Some of us may have one of these, perhaps more—the animal that is always watching you and is the first to move (AWAY) from you when pressured. They may try to climb out of or go through a pen when caught. Have you considered how much these excitable animals cost your operation?

Multiple studies have been conducted concerning the impact of temperament on average daily gain (ADG), Quality Grade, Yield Grade, health, and even feed intake. One recent study was conducted by Texas A & M. The purpose was to examine temperament effects on feed efficiency and carcass characteristics. What was discovered? Calm animals had 12% greater ADG, 10% greater dry matter intake, and had carcasses that were 30.64 pounds heavier than excitable animals. Based on the quality grade grid at the time of the study, the calmer animals provided $78.56 more value per carcass than excitable animals1.

1Olson, Cameron & Carstens, Gordon & Hale, Daniel & Herring, Andy & Miller, Rhonda. (2018). Temperament on feedlot arrival affects performance efficiency and carcass quality in beef cattle.

Although the carcass information is compelling, excitable vs calm animals make a difference in EVERY operation. Excitable animals worry more and eat less and as a result, ADG suffers compared to their calmer companions. Feedlot operators warn that it is harder to identify a sick animal if they are flighty. Why? Because their head is up watching you when you try to check on them. Because of this issue, mortality is higher in flighty animals. It could also be said that they

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are less efficient because of the toll anxiety takes in production. In addition, excitement is contagious. A few high-headed ones can lead others to be more anxious and flighty. And consider the wear and tear on handling equipment and danger to those working the animals!

Although disposition is heritable, it also pays to scrutinize our handling practices. Every encounter with an animal TEACHES THEM SOMETHING. Calm, quiet, unhurried handling helps animals to remain calm, quiet, and unhurried. Striking, yelling, and sudden movements from cattle handlers encourages animals to respond in kind. Are you training your animals to be calm-- a pleasure to work --or excitable animals that, best case scenario, are stressful to work and worst case scenario, dangerous?

Best advice--Pay attention to disposition and cull animals with bad attitudes. Bad attitudes are heritable, contagious, less efficient, and potentially dangerous.

Although Extension offices are currently closed with all employees working remotely, Extension is still open for business and committed to serving our clientele. Please call us 931-648-5725. Calls are being forwarded to the appropriate individual and we are available to help just like always.

Rebekah Norman, County Director UT-TSU Extension Montgomery County 1030 Cumberland Heights Rd., STE A. Clarksville, TN 37040 renorman@utk.edu