Production without grass: 'Cows don't have to eat grass' | MEANT (2024)

Should or can the livestock industry follow its pig and poultry relatives into an even more intensive system of confinement?

When Mother Nature drops the hammer somewhere in the world, or the government reclaims federal grazing land, or a greedy neighbor breaks a handshake deal because he got a better deal, cow/calf producers could find themselves without grazing land.

The question then arises: what to do?

As Bob Dylan sang: 'The times they are a changing'. Sometimes ranchers need to rein their mountain in a new direction.

How possible is a new direction?

Karl Hoppe, North Dakota State University Extension Livestock Specialist, has an idea where that direction could lead. 'Cows don't have to eat grass. If we have invested time and effort in a herd of cows, we can certainly feed them in a pen. We have been doing this at Carrington for 40 years.”

NDSU's Carrington Research Extension Center conducts research and education programs to increase agricultural productivity, competitiveness and diversity in central North Dakota. It is home to a herd of cows and calves that have lived in dry conditions for decades.

Hoppe believes cows can move from the pasture to the trail. If desired, at least temporarily. Maybe even in the longer term.

That concept raises a whole new question: Should or can the livestock industry follow their pig and poultry relatives into an even more intensive system of confinement?

Hoppe says this has been happening for decades, at least to some extent. "We started with mega grain cattle way back in the 1970s, 50 years ago. So people ask about the conglomeration of the cattle industry, which happened long before the pork industry ever became big."

He explains that farmers have been moving to large yards in the western Corn Belt in Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma because of the weather. In addition, the technology of the scales and the mixer wagon allowed for more accurate feeding of the animals.

“We've been around for 50 years and this is how it turned out,” he said. "We have huge plots with 10 to 20 thousand animals. Right next to plots with 50 to 100 animals."

But a feeding company is usually not a cow company.

Remember: “Cows don't need to eat grass.”

Examination of the facts

It is always wise to be open to the facts. Some positive ones (not all) for moving the herd from the pasture to the trail.

• Cows and calves can be better monitored for diseases.
• Grains and crop residues with lower cash values, such as wheat flour, potato processing products, wet and dry beet pulp and waste, and screenings, can be marketed through livestock with better value.
• Reproductive technologies such as artificial insemination and estrus synchronization could be used more effectively and efficiently.
• Weaning calves should be less stressful and as they are weaned they will start feeding and adapt to the ration more quickly.
• Record keeping is easier if you observe individual animals daily.
• Weighing, marking, vaccination and treatment are less strenuous in a limited area.
• Marketing cows and calves is more flexible because potential buyers can easily inspect the animals whenever they want.

Now some negatives (not all) to limit the crew.

• Feed is a huge expense for dryland herds and can easily amount to double that amount.
• Coops can become hot, crowded, dusty, muddy, fly-infested environments.
• The infrastructure is deteriorating and requires constant maintenance.
• Livestock become bored and develop bad habits such as chewing fences and eating dirt.
• More labor is needed to handle the confined livestock.
• Fertilizer is constant and must eventually find a new home.
• Neighbors may think it stinks and complain.
• Confined cows and calves pose several health and veterinary problems. Think of COVID-19 in terms of the animal kingdom.

Don't rely on old thinking

Regardless of which direction the table tilts, Hoppe encourages thinking outside the box. He says the focus at Carrington has always been, “What do I do if I don't have pasture?” To follow this principle, the calves were always raised on the pasture with their mothers during the summer. Weaned, put in another pen and the mothers fed all fall. But Carrington was originally an irrigation station. They grazed the animals under irrigation, but the grass soon became too plentiful and became trampled and useless. So they moved, collected the feed and took it to the trails.

"Maybe it's time to pick it up again. We're pulling the manure back onto the field, so it's going back and forth," he said.

Hoppe says that Nebraska has been working with more radical thinking: extremely early weaning, at two or three months of age. Or calving at strange times of the year.

“Why do we calve in the spring? Why not September or October?” he asked. “It doesn't matter if we don't tailor our feed to the raw materials on the pasture. We can calve if we think the market for the offspring is better There are different perspectives on how to handle a pen situation that need to be talked about."

In short

He adds that the price of pork is extremely low compared to beef, and if livestock is competitive, ranchers will be more likely to contain the situation. “Let me put it this way: I think we will keep the grass-based cow herd as long as it is available to the cow. If our demand for beef cattle exceeds what the pasture system allows, we could go to jail and raise cattle along the way.”

But when Mother Nature swings her hammer, as in Iowa, where monoslope and hoop barns dominate the landscape because of the mud and lack of reasonable pasture, rounding up the herd can work.

“Again, I don't see that happening with our statements about buying meat until demand really picks up,” Hoppe said. “And when that happens, other countries will step in and produce more beef for the world. But remember, cows don't have to eat grass.”

Bruce Derksen has worked in Western Canada's ranching and feedlot industry for more than 30 years. He writes about contemporary agriculture in the hopes of providing producers with as much current information and insight into the future of the industry as possible.