What to Do With Extra Forage
Ranchers in high forage regions might consider several methods for forage preservation.
By Maggie Malson
Fertile blackland and loamy soils, adequate rainfall, bermudagrass varieties with deep root systems, and a high density of cattle inventory make southeast Texas cow-calf country.
Opportunities abound for ranchers to take advantage of the region’s climate, topography and forage production.
Kelley Sullivan, a Crockett rancher, encourages producers to think about the best way to preserve the nutritional value of their forages.
“We have a strategic advantage for producing a lot of forage in this part of the state,” Sullivan says. “We’re such a heavy forage producing region, and there is tremendous opportunity to preserve the nutritional content of those forages in silage or haylage.”
Sullivan should know. Her family has been in cattle production in Texas for more than 100 years, getting their start raising commercial cattle along the Coastal Bend near Galveston.
She, along with her parents, Gerald and Susanne, own and operate Santa Rosa Ranch in Grimes and Houston counties, near the Trinity River. Santa Rosa Ranch is the largest seedstock producer of Brangus and UltraBlack cattle in Texas.
The Sullivans and General Manager Kent Smith operate from the commercial cattlemen mindset. Their entire bull and female herd development centers around available forages and utilizing them the best they can. This not only helps them run efficiently but benefits their bull and female customers as well.
“We develop our bulls and females with the commercial cattlemen in mind because that’s who we are,” Sullivan says. “That’s where we came from. Our development program is designed with the commercial producer in mind because our cattle go into various regions in the U.S., and each buyer has different environments and conditions on their operations.”
They formulate custom rations, utilizing byproducts like distillers grains, cracked corn and mineral. However, 85 percent of the rations are made up of the forage Santa Rosa Ranch greenchops and puts in silage pits.
“What’s been primarily useful for our bull buyers is that our bulls have been developed on heavy forage rations and when they turn them out, regardless of where they are going, the bulls hold up and don’t melt on them,” Sullivan says.
The cattle are developed in large pastures. Vertical mixers combine feedstuffs and those rations are delivered to bunks. The cattle build their condition by traveling a mile or so between feed and water.
“By making them travel, they are getting lots of really good condition while on a feed ration that would be typical for most operations,” Sullivan says. “They are not babied along — they are range-ready.”
The silage pit
Sullivan points out that in southeast Texas, seeing a silage pit is unusual.
“For the past several years, we’ve had passersby stop and watch while we’re green chopping silage because it’s such a novel concept in our part of the state,” she says. “But that’s the interesting thing. We have all this forage. What an opportunity to preserve the nutritional content of it.”
Putting up dry hay remains a popular choice in the area, but has a disadvantage due to nutrient loss from weather and storage conditions, which also means loss of dollars. That is another reason Sullivan says it is important for producers to consider alternative options for forage preservation. She offers tips for those wanting to get started.
Look at several methods. For people who already have haying equipment, one idea is the haylage tubes. Hay bales are stacked end to end, and then put in tubes. Companies can come to the ranch and put them in there after dry hay is baled.
“I think the best immediate option is wrapping round bales,” she says. “There will still be some residual moisture in the hay. If they can wrap it within a particular timeframe, they’ll be able to ensile it and preserve some nutritional content in that grass.”
In addition, producers could research different equipment systems. “We had a John Deere 7215R with a front cutter, which pulled a Krone Combi-Pack Haylage Baler/Wrapper,” Sullivan explains. “It baled and wrapped in one pass, making it an incredibly efficient system. I think we were one of the first to utilize that system and people would call asking about the big white marshmallows out in the pastures!”
Silage bags are also an option.
“When we assembled more acreage and prior to pouring our silage pit, we put everything up in big silage bags,” she says. “Essentially, we would chop everything. We would haul it over, blow it into the bags, seal them and let the ensilage process take place. We would feed it out of the bag as needed.”
If really invested and producing enough forage, ranchers could consider pouring a concrete pad and putting in a silage pit. Dairies and feedlots have impressive looking piles, but there is no reason it could not be made simple to get started.
“You need a flat area, and could even use some round bales as walls,” Sullivan suggests. “But it’s important silage gets packed in well and covered, so work with someone who understands the process.”
During the recent drought years, Santa Rosa Ranch experienced dry, cracked and dusty conditions. Preserving excess forage helped in feed management during that time. Ironically, Sullivan says once it began to rain, it didn’t stop, which created a more significant issue from a management perspective.
“For 18 months, half of the ranch was underwater or too boggy,” she explains. “The cattle had to be moved off and the land was not useable.”
Sullivan says it’s hard to quantify the cost savings of ensilage for their ranch versus conventional development rations because they have always approached their feed rations and forage management this way. However, based upon the number of head they develop each year, the feed expenses would potentially be cost-prohibitive.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, using forage this way benefits our customers,” Sullivan says. “We’re not fattening the bulls so much that their caloric requirements to maintain that condition are so high. We have a responsibility as a seedstock producer to produce the cattle that will work best for our customers. That is what matters most — that our cattle do a good job for our customers.” ❚
The “Ear” Advantage
Sullivan shares an interesting statistic: 70 percent of the world’s cattle are Bos indicus influenced. Looking at the global cattle inventory, the vast majority of them are around the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and the Equator.
“In sub-tropical regions, we get a decent amount of rainfall and produce a lot of forage. We get rain and we grow grass,” she says. “That’s why those Bos indicus cattle are so important in the way we put everything together.”
Brangus cattle are 3/8 Brahman and 5/8 Angus. The Ultrablack program puts an Angus back on a Brangus, and it comes out 3/16 Brahman and 13/16 Angus.
“That has allowed our breed to expand into areas that people would not typically consider for Bos indicus-influenced cattle, like Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri, and even western states like Utah, Idaho and California,” Sullivan says. “What those cattlemen are finding is just having that little ‘tic’ of ear in them really helped them hold up during breeding season in the summer months.”
Sullivan often shares that, “Every day is sale day at Santa Rosa Ranch.” While they have looked at alternative marketing methods, at this time, they choose to offer bulls, females, embryos and semen for sale by private treaty. Buyers are able to go through an entire group of bulls for sale with price list and performance data for each animal, and find what works best for their program.
“We really take the view that our relationship with our buyers is a partnership,” Sullivan says. “They are a part of our program and we’re a part of theirs. We want to make sure our cattle work for them because we’re all in this together.”
Remembering her roots in cattle production and wanting to preserve that for the next generation, Sullivan shares her biggest responsibility.
“As seedstock producers, we want to do nothing but improve the beef cattle industry in this country,” she explains. “Integrity is No. 1. Without that, you don’t have anything.” ❚
“Extra Forage” is excerpted from the April 2017 issue of The Cattleman magazine.