The ability to accurately predict stocking rates and pasture production would be the perfect management strategy for most beef producers, and the idea is not as out of reach as some may think.
Stewart Taylor, Lanreef, Roma, began a pasture measurement plan in 2009 that is now allowing him to predict his carrying capacity in the driest seasons.
After every growing season, Mr Taylor cuts samples of grass from 11 sites to measure the amount of feed grown that summer.
Each quadrant of feed is dried in what Mr Taylor calls a “cockie’s way of doing it”- in the microwave- to establish a percentage of dry matter.
This dry matter is then weighed with kilograms per hectare entered into a spreadsheet created by Ecorich Grazing’s Col Paton.
Mr Taylor said the spreadsheet was written in layman’s terms for the everyday beef producer.
“I’m not scientific, all I do is measure the feed, type in the number of cattle I’m putting in that paddock and their weights and it works out my available grazing days,” he said.
“It gives me an idea of how many weaners we can safely bring down and carry through winter from the north.”
Mr Taylor said like everything in agriculture, results still depended on the weather.
“We put our grazing period out until January 15 of the following year and the model works on no rainfall in that period- the worst case scenario,” he said.
“Anyone can do this- we’re grass growers before beef growers.”
Lick trials prove worthwhile
Continuing Stewart Taylor’s commitment to efficient business management, the Goldsborough manager dabbled in a lick supplement trial with interesting results.
Between July and October 2009, Mr Taylor tested three mobs of 50 heifers for their response to lick supplements in a drought year that lingers in everyone’s memory.
Dung samples and soil tests were taken at Lanreef, Roma, to enable lick company Stocklick Trading to manufacture supplements to suit the predominantly buffel grass country.
Heifers were stocked at one head to four hectares and weighed within 10 kilograms of each other for an average of 280kg at the start of the trial.
Mr Taylor said the trial was very controlled, with all three paddocks neighbouring each other, all containing spelled pasture and holding the same types of cattle.
“It was a simple trial, we didn’t want to complicate things. They were weighed and tagged in our yards and brought in after 90 days,” he said.
“We also measured how much lick they had consumed. One paddock had access to dry lick, one had M8U wet lick and the other had no lick.”
The results would prick most producers’ ears.
Cattle receiving dry lick gained 0.23kg/head/day. Those on M8U wet lick gained 0.15kg/head/day and cattle without lick lost 0.11kg/head/day.
Mr Taylor said he purposefully set the trial for the driest and coldest parts of the year when the effects of lick supplements were most important.
“This is useful data and unless you’ve got a crop in it’s a pretty good result,” he said.
“I carried out a visual trial with visitors that was most interesting. The cattle that looked the best had no access to lick but because their weight loss was so small you couldn’t pick it.
“2009 was an exceptionally dry year and these results told us, on a cost versus return basis, dry lick supplements are a worthwhile investment.”
With the 2016 winter fast approaching, those leaning tentatively towards a lick supplement program would likely be encouraged by such quantitative, outcomes based data.
