The lack of moisture this spring is becoming an increasing concern for area cattlemen. Drought is perhaps the harshest weather condition for cattlemen to cope with. A drought can occur at any time therefore having a drought plan in place is critical for short and long term success in the cattle industry.

When dealing with drought, producers have two main options. The first is to provide supplemental feed or increase the forage supply and the second main option is to reduce the need for the forage. The forage supply can be increased by leasing additional grass, but in many cases a widespread drought makes this option difficult to achieve. Another option is to feed harvested forages or other feedstuffs. Feedstuffs that can be used successfully are grain co-products. Products such as corn gluten and distillers grains are low in starch and high in digestible fiber and by using these products the utilization of low quality forages can be increased. A third option is to graze non-traditional forages such as meadows, other hay or standing corn. A cost analysis of these options will be producer specific and must be done to examine the feasibility of both the short and long term impacts. Using non-traditional forage will likely impact the amount of harvest hay or grain corn available for use or for sale. The feasibility will depend upon your hay carryover, the cost of purchasing forage and the price of corn.

The second main option is to reduce the need for forages. This can be accomplished by reducing cattle numbers and/or by weaning early. It is estimated that weaning and removing the calf from the pasture will reduce forage consumption by 30% per day. Another way of looking at it is that for very 2.5 days that a calf is weaned yields enough forage for one more day of grazing. Calves can be weaned at 90 days of age and/or greater than 200 pounds with few complications. Calves must be fed a balanced ration and if healthy these early weaned calves are very efficient in converting feed to pounds. Work with your veterinarian to develop a vaccination program for early weaned calves. Early weaned calves will need to be retained for some time after weaning to generate enough revenue to pay cow costs.

The early weaning advantage also occurs on the cow side. Cows will maintain or perhaps gain weight and body condition score resulting in potentially higher pregnancy rates. Young cows are the best candidates for early weaning as they have growth requirements in addition to the requirements for maintenance and lactation.

Another way to reduce the forage needs is to reduce inventory. Good records will help you in determining which cows should be removed from the herd. Cows that are old, unsound, with poor dispositions or have not performed up to herd average as candidates for culling. These options also have an associated short and long term effect. A cost analysis is again needed to determine the impacts of early weaning and culling decisions. Selling part of the breeding herd will result in the loss of future income and make more difficult to cover the overhead costs which are not likely to decrease with the fewer cows. Because of the seriousness of reducing future income, selling part of the breeding herd should be one of the last options a producers uses.

Drought places added pressure on your range resources. Proper grazing management is needed to minimize the effects of the drought on your pastures. Poor range management practices can have a long term effect on your pastures. It is important to be flexible during a drought and to make certain that a cost analysis is conducted to determine the impacts of your decision. Early planning is the key to survival during drought times.