04/07/1998

Better Beef Tour Makes First Stop in Headland

HEADLAND, Ala. - Cattle producers from the Wiregrass area saw and heard the latest in beef and forage production as the Alabama Better Beef Tour made its first stop at the Wiregrass Substation in Headland.

The series of meetings features scientists from Auburn University, who will be traveling the State to share with producers results of beef and forage tests and to provide information to help cattle producers make better management decisions. The meetings are co-sponsored by the Alabama Cattlemen's Association, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

At the Wiregrass meeting, Don Ball, a professor of agronomy and soils, noted that percentage of hay spoilage is directly related to feeding losses because cattle refuse to eat poor quality hay. Ball showed Wiregrass cattlemen five different hay storing systems, ranging from covered and inside a barn to left in the open with no protection.

"Anything we did to protect hay increased the quality significantly over hay bales we left unprotected," Ball noted. Hay stored in a barn was the top treatment, but even inexpensive sleeves put around large round bales provided good protection, according to Ball.

Mary Miller-Goodman, an associate professor of agronomy and soils, showed the Wiregrass cattlemen ryegrass plots fertilized with poultry litter, compared to mineral fertilizer. She noted that just by using poultry litter, soil pH was raised, whereas mineral fertilizers tend to lower pH. The Auburn researchers used eight tons of litter to attain an equivalent of 350 pounds of nitrogen on the coastal bermudagrass plots.

Ryegrass is among the favorite winter grazing forages for Wiregrass cattle producers, but rate and application method for nitrogen has been a tough management decision for some. Auburn researcher Joe Touchton, who is head of the Department of Agronomy and Soils showed the producers a test using different N sources and applications on ryegrass.

"We didn't see any differences in N source, though it seems that nitrogen sulfate may be a good option because so many fields are deficient in sulfur, however in some management situations urea or other N sources may be more economical," Touchton noted. Regardless of the N source, broadcast application worked out best in three years of testing in which nitrogen was applied ahead of weather fronts, which is typically the time of highest volatilization, which results in rapid depletion of N from the soil.

In discussing feeding systems that reduce the amount of corn used, Auburn researcher Darrell Rankins, an associate professor of animal science, told the cattle producers that soybean hulls can be a good alternative. He explained that soybean hulls are actually the skin around the soybean, not like peanut hulls. Though soy hulls don't have as much energy as corn, by subsidizing more expensive corn with soy hulls, researchers were able to produce a diet with comparable energy for less cost.

Dave Bransby, an alumni professor of agronomy and soils, told the producers the keys to making money with winter grazing is to get good cattle, stock at two animals per acres and graze them for at least 100 days. He noted that deworming and implants are a part of having good cattle, and he urged producers to use these management techniques to take full advantage of pasture potential.

John Everest, a professor of agronomy and soils, showed the cattle producers some common Wiregrass pasture weed problems and discussed with them some management techniques to control these weeds. Everest noted that crabgrass is the most common and potentially yield robbing weed problem faced by most Wiregrass cattle producers. Zorial, he said, is about the only material left to control this weed in winter pastures. He warned that some whitening, or bleaching will occur with Zorial and that it must be applied in late February to early March for maximum control.

Following the field tour, producers met with the Auburn scientists for a question and answer session. Larry Wells, superintendent, and Brian Gamble, associate superintendent of the Wiregrass Substation hosted the meeting, which also featured remarks by Dave Maples, from the Alabama Cattlemen's Association.

The Better Beef Tour will include stops at the Gulf Coast Substation in Fairhope; The Black Belt Substation in Marion Junction, the Upper Coastal Plain Substation in Winfield, the Sand Mountain Substation in Crossville, and the Tennessee Valley Substation in Belle Mina.

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
by Roy Roberson

04/07/98