Destocking is a prevalent practice during a drought. It is rarely easy and will still cost you most of the time. However, drought is a common consequence of ranching, so it will still need to be done. It is important to include plans for when droughts occur so producers are always prepared.
The object of making this decision is to preserve any potential forage growth when the rains come back. It requires maximizing the options available to you by keeping an eye on current and future forage supplies and animal demand. Making these choices early enough will be less severe than waiting too long.
Effective destocking requires a proactive approach. It’s crucial to align your overall goal with your guidelines. Now is the time to take a pragmatic look at your herd. Letting your personal views influence your decisions can end up costing you in the end. Here are some key considerations when looking at destocking:
Why use destocking?
The basic definition of this term is to remove any animals that you have grazing forages in your pasture. When things get very dry, it is often necessary to preserve forages. The less demand that is placed on your grasses, the better they will be able to rebound from the current conditions.
The primary objective of destocking is to optimize the animal performance of the herd that is left in relation to the forage supply. Forage supply refers to the amount of available food for the animals. In contrast, animal demand is the amount of food the animals require. If demand is higher than what is being provided, then you will need to remove some of that demand. Knowing forage supply will require you to know what kind of production your forages are capable of.
The sooner you identify the problem of dry conditions, the sooner you can take appropriate action. Making stocking adjustments early means your destocking will be less severe. Also, if conditions are dire, the sooner you reduce your herd, the better off you’ll be financially. As more and more people sell off their herds, prices will drop so that early action can save you money and keep you financially stable.
You want to leave enough forages around to capture and utilize any rain that will fall. Leaving enough forages will also help to reduce any evaporation losses that can occur. The number of forages left will determine how easily it can bounce back when things improve.
Producers make some common mistakes when faced with the possibility of destocking, such as holding out on deciding in hopes that rainfall will occur. Another is thinking that just early weaning calves will be enough. Also, they will choose to keep the young ones at the expense of the more productive mature cows.
When to use destocking
Any drought plan should be comprehensive, including a trigger date and condition. A trigger date could be a specific amount of rain by a certain date. This plan will give you an idea of the forage production. A forage plan will indicate if it will be enough for Your herd. Your ranch’s drought management plan should include these elements to ensure you’re always prepared and have a sense of security.
Forage production
As I stated earlier, many ranchers hold out longer, hoping enough rainfall will occur to improve forage production. The problem with this strategy, among other things, is that even if you get plenty of rain when it falls can play an important role. Research conducted in the Rolling Plans has shown that 60-80% of the annual production on native pastures occurs by the end of July. For example, if the drought breaks and you get plenty of rain from July, average forage production will only be 20-40%.
Forage plants need a minimum amount left over in order to maintain enough root and above-ground growth. Enough root growth will ensure plant health and be able to use what limited rain you have effectively. Taking the forage base below this threshold severely limits its ability to recover. The usual rule of thumb here is that you want to leave about half of the forage.
Two options
Depending on your situation, there are two options that you can go with. You can use Destocking or Relocation to another pasture. Relocation is the process of moving your herd to a different pasture with better forage conditions. However, it cannot be accessible with fuel prices being as they are. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln has a very informative article on what to look at when considering relocating your herd. Destocking, on the other hand, involves reducing the number of animals in your herd to match the available forage supply.
Most, if not all, cattle producers cannot afford to continually provide hay for their herd. With years like we sometimes get, you may not even be able to find bales. If you need to feed something and hay may not be an option, I went over some options in a previous post, “How to replace hay in a drought year.”
How to properly reduce herd numbers
When it comes to making decisions on what to get rid of, it can be very easy to let your personal feelings take hold. Letting your personal feelings take hold can, however, end up costing you money and production. When deciding, it is best to look at which ones are providing the best return on investment and which ones aren’t.
1st ones to go
The first culls to get rid of should be any spring or summer-calving cows with no calf at their side. Considering normal pregnancy and death losses will result in about 5-15% of the herd meeting these criteria. There is a better time to wait for next year’s income. You should include any replacement heifers you have that need to be put into production.
Removing the replacement heifers will result in a 7-10% reduction in stocking rate, which is the number of animals you have on a given area of land. This reduction in stocking rate will also reduce forage demand. You will also see a decrease in supplement needs because these heifers have a high nutrition demand. Just following these two, you can see a 12-25% herd reduction without impacting the weaned calf crop.
Any short-bred cows fall calving cows should be next on the list to go. This technique is necessary to identify cows by their pregnancy stage and palpate them. Congratulations! By following these 3, you can obtain a 15-40% reduction in numbers without affecting your calf crop.
Next to go
Now that we have reviewed which are the first to go, we can consider other options. It would help to examine the cow’s anatomy and current production levels. You can also look at any production or herd records you may have to identify any “borderline” cows in your herd. Without records, you can visually identify which ones may need to be discarded.
It may seem bleak now, but any decisions you make now can improve the overall performance of your current herd. Removing any questionably productive cows can improve the general genetic pool for when the rains come back.
