Yearlings may be one of the most underutilized cattle enterprises in Nebraska. With an abundance of irrigated cornfields and ethanol plants, Nebraska is an ideal location to run yearlings.

In Nebraska, John Maddux of the Maddux Ranch in Wauneta sees a "cow culture" that dates back to when homesteaders arrived in the state. Despite the acceptance of cow-calf operations, he doesn't see yearlings catching on quite as fast. "We really do have a resource base here that should probably move us more toward yearlings, and away from cows in much of the state," he says.

Nebraska has a tremendous amount of irrigation and corn production, which provides an enormous resource of corn residue after corn harvest. The state also has a large infrastructure of ethanol production and all of its byproducts, which provide a tremendous resource for growing animals, he says. The state also has a vast infrastructure of feedlots and packing plants within the general proximity of these feed resources.

"I consider [Sandhills ranchers] Bob Price and Homer Buell two of the pioneers who took yearling operations and systemized it," says Maddux. "They developed a marketing program and feeding system that really fit the market."

His family was able to take that system and develop it into an efficient way of running yearlings at a low cost on their ranch, Maddux says. "Our basic system is we own some home-raised calves, and we buy several thousand western Nebraska steer calves in the fall. We wean the calves, and run the steers on cornstalks or dry grass, supplementing them with wet distillers grains," he notes.

Their goal is to send a 730- to 750-pound steer to grass each summer. "I have learned from Bob Price and Homer Buell that we have a tendency in the yearling business to be worried about how well we feed these calves through the winter," he says. "Some people think if you feed them too well, it will affect summer gains."

While Maddux admits that could be true up to a point, he feels compensatory gain is a perception built on the vision of 1970s genetics. "My view is with the complete change in genetic makeup of the cowherd in the last 30 to 40 years, we now have cattle with such great growth potential we don't have an issue with holding them back, and not having more than acceptable summer gains on those cattle turned out to grass," he says. "We have tried to feed those steers a little better, and have found it may marginally impact summer gains. But it isn't enough to not overwhelm the fact that we have more pounds to sell when we sell those yearlings off grass for September delivery," he adds. "We are still paid more dollars for those steers that gross that much more."

On the other hand, it can depend upon cow size. "If I have a steer out of a 1,000-pound cow, then compensatory gain would be a much bigger deal," Maddux says. "Those yearlings won't have the same growth potential coming out of that smaller cow," he notes. "In our program, we tend to send out bigger steers — our goal is 950 pounds. Some weigh over 1,000 pounds," he says. "There will be some slide, but we are paid more for producing big steers that gross much more. It is a far more economical approach for us."

Clark writes from Potter.