After experiencing widespread drought in the great plains in 2021, livestock producers are being advised by experts to plan ahead for managing pasture land and feeding cattle during another year of anticipated drought conditions. Dr. Adnan Akyüz, professor of climatological practice and North Dakota state climatologist, shared his drought outlook for the upcoming season during a recent webinar hosted by North Dakota State University Extension. “We see [according to the USDA drought monitor map] that almost 50% of the state is in drought — to be more exact, 42% of the state is in drought, and that is limited to western portions of the state,” he said. “Twenty-four percent of that is in severe drought, and 7% is in extreme drought. We have seen some improvement in drought conditions since December, and that is due to progressive snowfall.” Akyüz said there are extensive economic impacts that occur with drought conditions, with the U.S. National Climatic Data Center assessing the North Dakota impact at around $5 billion. With definite drought conditions still unknown for the 2022 year, Extension experts advised producers with new options for managing cattle this year.

Feeding options

Dr. Karl Hoppe, NDSU Extension livestock systems specialist, said, “Just being able to get ahold of feed has been a real challenge. Because of the drought last year in the whole upper Midwest region, there wasn’t much feed produced last year, and now we’re just short of feed.” This issue with less feed produced was made worse with a difficult winter, causing producers to feed more during the winter months. “There’s just not a lot of extra feed around. So, our options are to keep feeding the cattle or to sell,” he said. “That’s a tough decision for our producers, but we’ve dealt with this before; we’ve had droughts like this in North Dakota, and we persevered through them.” For ranchers who plan to continue to supplement feed, specialists had recommendations to make the task a little easier.

Options to conserve or reduce stocking rates include supplementing or substituting feed, limit-feed with an energy-dense diet, or shipping to a less-affected pasture. “Energy is what our cow herds need,” Hoppe said. “We need extra energy in our cows to help them keep growing, producing milk for the calves to grow.” When considering supplemental feed, corn can be one of the best options. Whether in grain, ear, silage or stover form, corn is a feed capable of meeting cow energy needs.

Hoppe said oilseed meal options are available. “We have a lot of production here in North Dakota; we can feed soybeans and sunflower seeds, canola and flax.” Other protein feeds that can be considered are distillers grains, field peas, lentils, alfalfa and clover. The team of researchers at the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center has extensively researched alternative feed options for cattle and other ruminants. Producers can find this research in the publication Alternative Feeds for Ruminants.

CONVERSION RATES: Dr. Zac Carlson shares conversion rates for those looking to supplement forage and pasture feeding with grain or concentrate substitutes.

Dr. Zac Carlson is the NDSU Extension beef cattle specialist, and he shared insight on how to properly supplement pasture feeding. “Bringing in energy feeds, protein feeds, can be a way to reduce pressure on our pastures if we’re thinking we’re going to see reduced production in those pastures — at least here in the springtime.” Exact supplementation formulations will vary with the grain being used, but Carlson said a pound of grain should roughly substitute a half-pound of alfalfa. “This will depend on what the quality of your forage is. If we’re wanting to bring in feed to reduce pressure on either our hay inventory right now or reduce pressure on grazing, that forage replacement is in decimal form for 1 pound of grain or concentrate, would equate to replacing their low-quality forage is about a quarter-pound of the forage,” he said. “As our protein quality gets higher, we actually get a better replacement closer to that 1 pound of energy or protein feed to replace about a half-pound of pasture.” Producers should be careful to ensure they meet animal protein requirements before moving into supplementing energy in the ration.

Strategize and adapt

From alternative feeds, supplementing hay and pasture, or selling cattle off the ranch, where do you selectively strategize? Dr. Bryon Parman, NDSU agricultural finance specialist and assistant professor, says producers can use a mix of management strategies when deciding the future of their cow herds. “One of the biggest questions we get calls on during a drought is, ‘Should I keep my cows or should I sell my cows?’ There’s a lot of research that’s been done out of Wyoming on discussing what to do,” he said. “The answer is, a mixed management strategy is pretty much the best option under any scenario.” The mixed strategy means to balance selling and keeping cattle this season. “We’ve got options: You can keep whatever forage you have available to put them out on grass; you can do some feeding of whatever is feasible; you may have to do some shipping on the animals as well, and then possibly cull and selling is the least expensive in the short run but most expensive in the long run,” Parman said.

Parman said producers who kept their cattle through drought years were able to make their money back for the costs to keep their herd intact. “What happens, then, two years later, is the price of heifers goes way up because the size of the herd shrunk. Well, the price of heifers winds up going way up, and now I’ve got my grass back, so I want to get back into the business — but now I’ve got to buy $2,500 bred heifers.” Parman said this situation happened with drought conditions and ranchers back in 2012-14.

“The weather and your resources are going to dictate which management option you’re going to be able to take,” he said. Factors that determine which management strategy is best include the price of feed; the price of grain; how widespread the drought is, and how long it’s persisted; and cattle prices.

No matter which route is taken, NDSU Extension has tools available to producers to help them feed, budget, and manage their cattle herd in drought conditions.