Drought has plagued many parts of the country over the past couple years. Dust storms, sweltering heat, raging wildfires, failed crops – all effects of an ecosystem lacking adequate precipitation.

Minerals are a crucial component in beef cattle diets. While mineral mixtures may vary among farms, there is one mineral that is on many minds this time of year: magnesium.

Your operation may have several important characteristics that make it unique, but if you start with these six elements, a sound and practical winter cow herd supplementation program can become an efficient and effective segment of your business.

Recently, producers at the Nebraska Grazing Conference indicated that there is still a lot of apprehension around the use of NIRS in forage evaluation. The most common concern was that NIRS is “fine” for alfalfa but not accurate enough for grass forages.

Overseeding warm-season perennial grasses, such as bahiagrass or bermudagrass, with cool-season annuals can extend the forage production season into the winter months.