After pastures have been flooded, taking precautions when turning out for grazing is important. Once the pastures dry out and receive adequate sunlight, the bacteria that were on the grass in pasture will be eliminated.  However, the standing water that does not evaporate may be an issue depending on how much rain has occurred to dilute out the flood water. Thus, it is recommended that producers sample standing water in pasture a couple weeks before they want to turn out to see how much potential nitrates and coliform bacteria are present.

The University of Nebraska has conducted several years of cow-calf research examining and comparing the potential for different production systems in Nebraska.  Recent research has examined feeding cows and cow-calf pairs in a dry lot during a portion of the year as an alternative to grazing grass pasture.

In beef production, we tend to overdue genetic selection with the mentality that “more is better” or “bigger is better” in efforts to increase production. In doing so, we tend to select for short-term traits such as growth and milk yield to increase calf weaning weight for the potential of increased profitability.