Cooperative Extension Service
1998 Georgia Beef Expo
Johnathon Gabriel Memorial Scholarship
Making Cotton Fit Cattle
Junior Update
Was Your Horse Breeding Season a Mathematical Success?
Please give credit to the author if you use an article in a non-Extension publication and please send a copy of the article to the author. Thank you!
Charles A. McPeake Ph.D., PAS
Professor and Industry Liaison
The 1998 Georgia Beef Expo was held at the Georgia National Fairgounds on April 3 and 4, 1998, in Perry, GA. This was a first for Georgia cattlemen joining together for a large event that included many breeds of cattle. The Expo consisted of cattle displays, shows, cattle parades or evaluations and sales along with commercial displays and exhibits. A total of thirteen breeds participated while over fifty commercial exhibitors displayed wares from their respective companies.
The thirteen breeds displayed seventy lots and sold three hundred forty four lots with a gross value of $543,505 for an overall average of $1580. The cattle sold into fifteen states and Mexico.
The breeds cooperated under the breeds council of the Georgia Cattlemen's Association with the University of Georgia participating.
The following is a list of the breed activities and sales:
| Breed | Display Lots | Sale Lots | Sale Total | Sale Average |
| Angus | - | 54 | $ 95,250 | $1,764 |
| Beefmaster | - | 32 | $142,525 | $4,454 |
| Brangus | 31 | 29 | $ 59,575 | $2,055 |
| Braunvieh | - | 23 | $ 18,875 | $ 821 |
| Gelbvieh | 24 | 45 | $ 56,550 | $1,257 |
| Limousin | 9 | 41 | $ 46,220 | $1,128 |
| Maine Anjou | 6 | - | - | - |
| Polled Hereford | - | 48 | $ 39,485 | $ 823 |
| Red Angus | - | 26 | $ 35,050 | $1,252 |
| Santa Gertrudis | - | 44 | $ 49,975 | $1,136 |
| Senepol | - | - | - | - |
| Shorthorn | - | - | - | - |
| Simmental | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 70 | 344 | $543,505 | - |
Thanks to All Who Helped Make this Inaugural Event a Success.
This is a $600 scholarship and will be awarded each year to a 4-H or FFA member in the Junior Livestock Program. All County Extension Agents and Vo-Ag Teachers have been sent a copy of the application form. See your local agent or vo-ag teacher for more information, or call Laura Johnson at the Rural Development Center in Tifton at (912) 386-3407. The guidelines and scholarship timeline are below.
Mr. & Mrs. Larry Gabriel
Rt. 1, Box 54 B
Colbert, GA 30628
Recipient must also send a copy of this note to the scholarship selection committee.
Scholarship Timeline:
May 31, 1998 - Applications are due.
June - Aug. 1998 - Applications will be reviewed.
September 1998 - Recipient notified.
Jan. 15, 1999 - Submit grade report to Laura Johnson and a copy of thank you note sent to Gabriel Family.
Feb. 20, 1999 - Presentation of Scholarship at the rgia Junior National Livestock Banquet in Perry, GA.
Robert L. Stewart
Extension Animal Scientist
In 1983 when first coming to Georgia, I found an agricultural economy based on row crops and livestock. The row crops consisted primarily of peanuts, corn and soybeans and were complemented by hogs and/or cattle on most farms. In 1983 there were 120,000 acres of cotton in Georgia.
The profile of agriculture has changed since then. The loss of a slaughter facility resulted in a drastic reduction in hog numbers. There are almost no "additional" peanuts grown leaving only quota acres in peanut production. Another large shift has been in cotton. In 1997, there were 1.44 million acres of cotton planted.
In south Georgia, the traditional combination of peanuts and beef cows works well, especially with a fall calving season. A cover crop of winter annuals, usually rye, benefits the peanut/corn rotation. Cows calving in the fall have excellent nutrition from the rye in order to produce lots of milk and breed back within 90 days. These calves are ready to market as feeders in late summer which historically offers higher than average prices. Peanuts are harvested in time to plant rye and the rye matures in time to till and plant corn or peanuts the following spring.
What happens when you introduce cotton into this system? Unless adjustments are made, replacing peanut acres with cotton causes a wreck if the cattleman continues to calve in the fall. Planting small grains behind cotton has been tried with little success. Aerial seeding, no-till seeding and conventional seeding methods have failed in most situations. The primary problem stems from the late cotton harvest relative to optimum seeding dates for small grains. The fall of 1997 was a good example of just how late cotton harvest can be delayed.
Cotton is back in Georgia in a big way and for a long time. Hopefully, cattle will also be here and on the same farming operations. Similar to the cattle/peanut combination that works so well, a cattle/cotton combination can produce excellent results as well. The fit is different than with peanuts and the cattle producer may have to re-think his calendar to make optimum utilization of his resources. Making cotton fit cattle would be frustrating. However, adjusting the cattle operation to fit cotton production can and does work.
The first step is to determine the best calving season. Nutrition is the most limiting factor in choosing the best season of year to calve. If adequate protein and TDN are not available during early lactation, then conception will be delayed and pregnancy rates will decline. This is what I refer to as letting your cows talk to you. If most of your calves are born early in the calving season and you have a 90+ percent pregnancy rate, then your cows are saying they like the program. On the other hand, if most calves are born late and pregnancy rates are slipping, then your cows are telling you to do something different. Listen to them.
The next step is to consider your feed resources. Cotton stalks offer a substantial amount of free grazing days. On average, each acre of cotton stalks will produce 30 cow-days of grazing. That means that 100 acres will provide grazing for 100 cows for 30 days. Dry-pregnant cows will maintain body condition during this time. Cows with calves will need a lot of supplemental protein and energy. This opportunity favors spring-calving cows (Jan.-April).
A spring-calving program may also require different winter annuals than for fall-calving. Instead of having small grains ready to graze in mid-November, the need for high quality forage shifts to the February-April time period. Ryegrass is ideally suited to provide grazing during this season. Either planted in a prepared seedbed or overseeded in a sod, spring-calving cows and ryegrass fit together well. If peanut land is also available, traditional small grains can be utilized for stockers and/or developing replacement heifers.
Another cotton resource that fits a beef cattle operation is whole cottonseed (WCS). Both research and personal experience support the fact that a wintering program based on hay supplemented with the proper amount of WCS can produce excellent results. Be advised that such a program requires the proper amount of hay in storage to last the full winter. The usual recommendation is to put up at least 1.5-2.0 tons of hay per cow. This is substantially more than is needed for wintering programs with winter annuals. If you farm cotton and can claim the seed at a reduced price, then economics favor this approach. Spring-calving operations especially are cost effective on this program. As stated before, winter annuals can be utilized for stockers and/or replacement heifers.
Many cattlemen have utilized gin trash as a replacement for hay. The quality (protein and TDN) varies widely, but on average is close to that of fair quality grass hay. Gin trash is available only in the fall and can provide most of the needs for pregnant cows. As with cotton stalks, lactating cows will lose weight if gin trash is the only feed available. If gin trash is a resource, this also favors spring calving.
There are certainly other considerations when trying to make cotton and cattle work together. An important factor is maintaining diversity. Cotton sometimes needs another enterprise to depend on in case income is low. There are some cotton operations in 1997 that were very happy to have a liquid asset such as cattle to help their bottom line.
Cattle can fit cotton, but sometimes we have to be willing to change what has traditionally worked for us. As you analyze your resources, look first at the months in which most of the calves are born. Listen to those females. They might just be trying to send you a message.
Ronnie Silcox
Extension Animal Scientist
Rulebooks for 1998-99 State Livestock Shows have been mailed! One copy was sent to every county extension office and agriculture education teacher. An order form for additional rulebooks, tags and entry cards is in the back of the rulebook and at the end of this newsletter.
Following are a few major rule changes you need to be aware of as you begin projects:
Please check the rulebook for other changes. We have plenty of rulebooks for every family involved in the livestock projects to get one. Please put one in their hands when they sign up for a project.
Gary Heusner
Extension Animal Scientist - Equine
The end of another breeding season for most breeds of horses is here again. The goal of any breeding season is to end up with all mares pregnant and the stallion fertility and libido still intact. Of course, the true test of a successful breeding season is a live foal for every mare bred approximately 340 days past conception. Review of past breeding and foaling histories allows for more accurate assessment of procedures in obtaining a live foal. Annual breeding season records can be summarized to aid in evaluation of breeding procedures. Several ratios can be calculated from breeding records to determine how well the goal of producing live foals was reached.
Many breeding managers begin their calculations using only mare data and do not break it down by stallions. It is equally important to look at the stallion's records to make sure he was managed correctly. Even though a breeding soundness exam is a good indicator of a stallion's fertility, the true test is the number of mares he gets in foal in the fewest number of breedings. One calculation that will provide this information is the conception rate per first cycle. This will give you a percentage rate for the stallion after the first cycle. For example, a stallion is breed to 18 mares. Fifteen are in foal after that cycle. Therefore the percent in foal for the first cycle is 83.3% (15 ÷ 18 x 100 = 83.3%). Industry standards indicate that stallions with normal fertility should have 60-70% pregnancy rates the first cycle. If the rate is less than 50% than a number of parameters should be assessed. These parameters would include taking a culture from the stallion to make sure that no bacterial infections are present. If the stallion is being bred naturally, how good of job is he doing covering the mare? If artificial insemination is used on the farm, is the semen being collected, handled, and inseminated properly? If semen is being shipped you ask the same question as with A.I. and also is the semen being diluted properly with an extender that does the best job of keeping the spermatozoa viable for at least twenty-four hours? In other words whatever delivery method we use to get the semen from the stallion to the mare, are we getting 500 million motile spermatozoa into the mare per cover?
Another valuable calculation is cycles per conception. This can be done for the stallion as well as all mares bred during a breeding season if more than one stallion is used. The number is calculated merely by counting the total number of cycles and pregnancies. For example, if ten mares settled on the first cycle, five mares on the second cycle, and two mares settled after the third cycle, the cycles/conception would be:1.5 = [(10 x 1) + (5 x 2) + (2 x 3) ÷ 17].
Routinely well managed stallions and breeding operations will have less than 1.5 cycles/conception. If the cycles/conception seem high than you need to be checking (1) barren and open mare body condition scores, (2) mares are not in transition, (3) mares have negative cultures and are reproductively sound, and (4) is the palpator-ultrasounder personnel experienced and competent.
Another interesting calculation to provide or assess is the breedings per cycle. This value will vary a great deal depending on the history you have on the mares being bred. For example, mares that may not have previous records do not give you a clue as to follicle size before ovulation, deviation of heat, etc. Whereas mares which you do have a history of estrus length and normal follicle size before ovulation can be bred fewer times without the fear of missing ovulation. Breedings per cycle for mares which you do not have a history may be around 2.0 to 2.25, whereas mares for which you have a history, the breedings per cycle (per ovulation) may be less than 2.0.
Overall foaling rate is the best indicator of success of the breeding season but embryo and fetal loss rates are needed to identify important differences at specific times of gestation. The embryo loss rates can be calculated for mares that lose a pregnancy between 14 - 20 days after initially determined to be pregnant. The fetal loss rate would be during the 20 to 40 day period. Acceptable embryo and fetal loss rates are 13% or less.
Most farms now breed on foal heat. Foal heat conception rates should be 50% or higher. Many farms routinely achieve 65 to 70% foal heat conceptions.
Records need to be designed to provide accurate information that is understandable and readily accessible; records should allow cross referencing from one record to another, and should minimize time spent recording without jeopardizing accuracy and detail. The statistics calculated are only as good as the data (records) that are kept. The mathematical information obtained will provide information for making decisions on mare management, allow evaluation of operational success in producing foals, and provide evidence of the need for changes in breeding management activities.