{"id":55606,"date":"2020-06-02T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T14:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=55606"},"modified":"2020-06-02T08:39:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T13:39:26","slug":"stockers-should-be-an-easy-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=55606","title":{"rendered":"Stockers should be an easy decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Kendell Braden Born<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hill City senior<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the beginning of August, and for\nmost people bulls are needing pulled and cows are Nature and grazing. Calves\nwill soon to be weaned, and then comes fall planting season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stockers are typically\nweaned cattle that range from 300 to 800 pounds. They are bought by an\nindividual or group that feeds them for 120 days, capitalizing on pounds\ngained. Stockers are beneficial in many ways to the environment. Grazing is a\nnatural process of rangelands which help improve wildlife habitat and decreases\nfuel loads for potential wildfires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A question often asked\nis \u201cDon\u2019t stockers require more management than a cow and calf?\u201d The answer is\n\u201cno.\u201d Shane P. Ruff, an extension ag economist with Kansas Farm Management,\nsaid, \u201cPotential reasons to switch from cow-calf-yearlings to stockers-only\nmight include a desire to avoid winter feeding, eliminate calving, adapt more\nquickly to forage availability, or reduce disease-risks associated with\nbreeding cattle without exiting the livestock industry entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eliminating these risks\nhas future potential profits for the rancher. Plus, not running cow-calf eliminates\nthe cost of buying bulls, pregnancy checking and, potentially, artificial\ninsemination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting rid of cows and\nbulls maximizes the number of head that can be grazed per pasture. Most of the\ntime, when grass is adequate, the stocking rate is one cow-calf pair per 10\nacres. Stockers can usually be run one head per two acres for 100 days, which\nis usually the time frame that they are grazed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With stockers, the\ngrazing potential is greater and more valuable. For example, May 1, we turn\ncows out to grass and usually pull cows off of grass in September. With\nstockers, we turn out May 1 and at 100 days are pulled off in the middle of\nJuly. Although we are grazing more head, it is for a shorter time and the grass\ngrowth usually is reduced by heat and grazing stress. Most high temperatures\nhappen in July and August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost, which is\nassociated with everything, must be taken into consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim Gerrish, in The\nStockman Grass Farmer said, \u201cThe animal unit day\/gross income value of summer\nstockers is $1.32\/lb. and winter stockers at $0.88 per lb. \u2026 . Cows come in at\n$0.08 per lb.\u201d With cows at a low, those figures show the advantage of running\nstockers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, with the average\ncost of gain being around 60 cents per pound, producers can capitalize on an\nextra 72 cents per lb. Most times if set up correctly, stockers can be run in\nthe summer and winter, which allows two opportunities to make money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStocker production has the potential to help manage forage\nand production risk,\u201d said Andrew Griffith with the University of\nTennessee extension service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDue to climatic differences from year to year, forage\navailability can be highly variable from year to year,\u201d he said. \u201cStocker\nproduction can be used to reduce the financial stress that can come with variability\nof forage resources. Stocker production provides the flexibility to increase,\nreduce or eliminate the stocker enterprise relative to forage availability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stockers make it\npossible to turn over your money twice in one year, but also to improve grasses\nand stock at a higher density rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when the cows are causing trouble in the summer, and you are having to feed in the blizzards of a winter and calve in the wet springs, are you asking yourself, \u201cAre stockers a more economical and better choice for me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kendell Braden Born, a 2017 Hill City High School graduate, is a junior majoring in animal science at Fort Hays State University. Kendell is the son of Brandy Born, Hill City.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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