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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Rick Williams" <mrfarm AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Raising young stock
  • Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2002 22:44:44 -0500


RDH wrote:
> Are you aware of the work at the University of Utah where they
> are claiming
> that any grain especially at weaning time will suppress the CLA production
> in ruminants? Do you have any analysis done on your beef for fat
> profiles?

I would say that is something new to me. It must have just been released?
Can you cite the source so I can check it? Dr. Dhiman has shown that grain
feeding impairs the CLA levels but so does even hay feeding.

We have no choice of course as to whether we might or might not want to feed
grain to Jersey steers. As you surely understand, they are weaned typically
around 8 weeks and have been getting a high protein grain starter along with
their milk replacer. We use a 17% mix and we do use some coccidiostat for
the first 90 days. After that, they go into the next group and they then
receive a 15% non-medicated grain until they can handle just grass alone
which would be at around 6 months. Some are then nearing the winter so they
are effectively on grain for much of their first 12 months. The grain amount
is small though and the only other feed is hay. We are not feeding corn
silage anymore since our neighbor left his dairy farm (did not go out of
business by the way) and we want a simpler way to operate.

We may have the CLA checked eventually, but it will probably track similar
to others with the same amount of grazing. The key ingredient to my
understanding is to get them on grass, when you have it, and be a grass
manager. And keep them off of anything else including hay and including cut
grass for that matter. We do that very well as it is our primary focus.

By the late summer the CLA levels are probably going to be approaching the
maximum attainable level for our climate. We can never compete with the
coasts or other countries such as NZ since we only have grass for around 50%
of the time. We do some stockpiling so compared to many farms we try to keep
grazing until the snow gets too deep. Many around here are already at the
end of the grazing season now. The grass growth is nearly at the end but we
will try to keep grazing until the end of November.

> Also are you aware the methods to prevent the parisitides from killing the
> dung beetles in your pasture when you worm the cattle? We don't use any
> chemicals in our beef and with a completely grass based system we find it
> still the most economical.

Although I still have a moral concern with not treating the parasite load,
we have not found much of a problem with manure pats sitting around very
long. In fact it is amazing how fast they do disappear.

If we had a beef breed it may be possible to eliminate the parasite control
and live with the losses. There are loses which are rather well documented.
With Jersey's though you will have a much more difficult time.

We do have stockers on the farm (shipped Sunday) and dairy heifers under
contract with farmers for breeding and growth so we would not be able to
ignore the very modest parasite control that we use. We only apply a topical
control three times a year and ones that are to be processed in the next few
months are not treated. And that is for livestock that stays through th e
year. The stockers and heifers only get a maximum of two treatments as
recommended by most grazing authorities.

The ones that are over 12 months could withstand the parasite load much
better than the young ones.

Remember that under the "old" organic rules, many certifiers did allow most
treatments of young stock up to 12 months of age. So that tells you
something. And grazing exacerbates worm loading a very great amount since
they are in an invective/reinvective environment. That is why confinment
livestock makes it so much easier since they do not have the exposure to the
same degree. But the trade off with confinement has other downsides. Many of
the organic farmers here hate any grazing requirement in the NOP and are
unlikely to do much.

> Our calves gained 1.9 pounds average
> during this
> long dry and hot summer period and will really start to gain with
> the cooler
> weather and some moisture.

What beef breed do you have?

It is tempting to switch to a beef breed at times, but we have compared
Jersey to even the English beef breeds and we just don't want to give up the
consistent tenderness that is our trademark. We can get some beefers tender
but not consistently.

As it is we do not use the hormone implants nor ionophores and we take a
huge hit for that with our commodity stockers. In fact, the amount we lose
is a very big part of the total gross profit. With a 50 pound difference at
.70/cwt, that figures out to as much as $35 per head. Half to a third of the
total gross profit in many years. That is why a commodity ranch can not
afford to not do it whether they want to or not.

Sincerely,

Rick Williams
Misty Ridge Farm
Dairy heifers and dairy beef graziers
Viroqua, WI

www.mistyridgefarm.com





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