Crops and cattle headline Cranfills Gap conference

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

August 18, 2005 - After a filling meal of hamburgers, chips and iced tea, area small grain and stocker cattle producers got down to business at the Cranfills Gap Community Center for the Bosque and Hamilton counties Small Grain and Stocker Conference, Aug. 9.

Dr. Gaylon Morgan, Extension small grains specialist from College Station, spoke about wheat and oat varieties for grazing and grain.

"Weather wise, we've had a wet fall and a dry spring. If you are growing for dual use, you will mainly be stuck with growing wheat," Morgan said.

Oats are best for a fall forage production. Oats are not a host to Hessian fly and "some are susceptible to winter kill," Morgan stated.

Winter wheat is flexible.

"It is good for forage, dual-use or for grain only," he said Morgan, "and it has a good cold tolerance."

Triticale, which is a cross of rye and wheat, is a forage crop.

"There is a big difference in varieties in hardiness and performance," Morgan said. "It has a lower quality than wheat as far as forage, but it generally has a higher yield than wheat."

Morgan also addressed the 2005 cool-season forage trial performed at the Stiles Farm in Thrall. The top three varieties were Harrison (oats), AGR TS 101 (triticale) and Horizon 321 (oats).

"TAMCALE 6331 looks pretty good," Morgan said. "I think T2700 will do pretty well down here. The Panhandle is shipping it down here."

The top three varieties of the 2005 cool-season forage trial at Olney were all barley - Callao, Price and Doyce.

"Fannin was one of the best in the Blacklands. Of the soft wheat varieties, Coker 9553 has a good disease resistance and good forage yield in the Blacklands," Morgan said. "In the Rolling Plains, 2145 has some stripe rust resistance, Hessian fly resistance and people in this area are picking it up."

In oat variety trials, "Plot Spike has done well the past two or three years, but the seed price is a problem," Morgan said. "A 25-pound bag sells for as much as a 50-pound bag of other oats. TAMO 405 also looked good in the forage trial."

Jacob Shaffer, a graduate student who is working on his thesis with Dr. Morgan in McGregor, summarized that Texas ranks third in wheat production in the United States with 6.4 million acres of wheat being sowed each year.

"Fall forage is maximized when planted before Oct. 1," Shaffer said.

Dr. Ron Gill, professor and Extension livestock specialist in Stephenville, spoke about supplementing stocker cattle.

"Buying calves from other areas increases the stress in cattle," Gill said. "How do you reduce stress in a calf? You need to take the time to walk through, settle the cattle and work them. Get them on feed and they won't get as sick as often."

Gill said cool season annual grasses are the best quality to give to first-calf heifers up to lightweight steers. Cool season perennials are the worst quality.

"Everyone knows as plants get older, their nutritive value goes down and the forage yield increases," said Gill. "The problem with stocker cattle is that Mother Nature is always going to get in the way."

Gill listed reasons for supplementing: to help increase annual performance, balance nutrient intake, serve as a carrier for additives, stretch forage supplies, increase stocking rate, alter the marketing window, and to lower the "risk" associated with predicting grain.

"Add calcium and magnesium to minerals to reduce bloating," Gill suggested. "Trace minerals are important to cattle to help them build a healthy immune system. Gain promotants such as Bambermycin (Gain Pro) and Aureomycin work well, but the public doesn't like antibiotics used in food-producing animals."

The effects of supplementing stocker cattle are improved nitrogen utilization, increased fermentation and decreases in forage problems, like bloat.

"Most people use low quality hay for supplementing. You want to look at the energy and protein ratio," said Gill.

High quality hay includes sorghums and winter annuals. Moderate quality hay includes bermuda and native grasses. Low quality hay is straw.

To end the seminar, the outlook on cattle was discussed.

"What we said was going to happen isn't going to happen," Gill joked. "There is not anything looming that's going to cause anything catastrophic in the market. The Canadian border opening up was a non-issue. And you won't get BSE unless you eat the brains and intestines. I stay away from that stuff. The retention rate in heifers is what this issue is."