Understand forage nutritional value. This is the most important step in understanding if the forage base alone meets nutritional needs or if additional supplementation is required. Conducting a forage analysis provides valuable nutritional information, which can be used to determine the appropriate amounts of supplementation if it is needed. This can also help identify a feasible supplementation strategy for the individual operation. Without a forage analysis, a producer is simply guessing if their strategy meets the needs of their herd.

Cow age and stage of production. Nutritional needs increase as cows approach late gestation and calving. During the first 60 days after calving, nutritional demands reach their peak (i.e. peak lactation). Nutritional demands are also increased for younger cattle (first calf heifers) and for older cattle (10+ years old).

Cow body condition score. Does the animal need to maintain or gain body weight? Producers should body condition score their cattle at key times in the production cycle, such as at weaning, 60 days prior to calving, at calving, and prior to breeding. At weaning and at 60 days before calving both represent times where the supplementation strategy can be adjusted to add daily gain more efficiently to the animals compared to periods with higher nutrient demands.

Daily-fed supplements. Commercial feed blends or byproduct feedstuffs are commonly used as winter feed supplements in beef cow-calf operations. These ingredients generally contain a combination of energy–generally expressed as total digestible nutrients (TDN)–and protein (crude protein, CP), which can be used to supplement low-to-moderate quality forage.

Understanding ingredient composition and quality is important to determine the appropriate feed supplementation level used in daily feed allocation. Producers should review feed tag information to understand the product’s quality or ask for a feed analysis to determine feed value. This information, along with forage nutritive value information, can be used to develop an appropriate supplementation strategy for the operation.

Reduced-frequency supplementation. Supplementing with various feedstuffs on a less frequent basis is a common question from a labor standpoint in many beef cow-calf operations. Feeding supplement every other day, or at another defined frequency, is sometimes a strategy used by producers to reduce the time spent supplementing cattle during the winter months. Some feedstuffs are more suited for less frequent feeding than others.

Limit grazing. Limit grazing is a practice that allows for allocation of animals to high-quality pasture for only a few hours per day. By limiting time on pasture, forage resources are able to be stretched while also supplying high-quality nutrients to the animal’s diet. This can potentially improve digestion of the base forage in the diet and improve the overall plane of nutrition for beef cattle.

Creep grazing. Creep grazing allows animals with the greatest nutritional requirement to access high-quality forage while restricting those with lower requirements. This provides a closer match of forage nutritive value to animal needs. In most cow-calf operations using creep grazing, calves are allowed access to high-quality pasture through a creep gate or small access point that excludes cows from entering. When calves are done grazing, they can return to the cow through this opening in the fence. Creep grazing is also a grazing management strategy that is used to more efficiently use limited acreage of high-quality forage.