AP — Cattle ranchers squeezed by the economy are finding themselves in a conundrum of downsizing they wouldn't have expected a few decades ago, Oklahoma State University beef cow specialist Glen Selk said.
"The situation is such that we're looking at putting less pounds of cattle out to pasture. And we've got two ways of doing it: fewer head or smaller cattle," he said. "I'm not sure I can say that one is particularly better than the other. And I'm not sure there will be one answer to the question.
"These are not your grandfather's cows," Selk said.
Commercial operations have moved to larger cattle breeds over the last 30 to 40 years, leading to greater mature weights and milk production for market, Selk said. But to compensate for size and energy needs, feed requirements have increased as well.
"If we've got 160 acres and grandpa used to put 20 cows on that acreage, we thought we could put 20 cows on the same 160 and compensate by ramping up our fertilizer," he said. "We have relied on nitrogen fertilizer to produce the amount of forage to sustain these cattle through the course of most of the year."
The U.S. Agriculture Department recently reported fertilizer is now the biggest cost faced by farmers and by association, ranchers who need grazing land it's accounting for roughly a third of production costs. Phosphate, for example, has more than doubled from a year ago. Selk said herbicide for weed and brush control also have increased dramatically.
The obvious reaction by agriculture producers is to cut back on chemicals, Selk said. But that means the land will probably produce less forage material for livestock.
Many imported cattle breeds such as Limousin, Maine-Anjou and Charolais were originally bred for milk as well as beef. U.S. cattle producers incorporated those animals into their own herds to improve their overall weight.
That's what Ray Heldermon did as he built Heldermon Limousin Ranch out of his father's operation in Claremore. In the 1970s, his father raised the smaller Angus breed. The younger Heldermon crossbred some of the herd for hybrid vigor and slowly moved into more Limousin bloodlines, even though he was still raising the same number of cattle. Now much of his operation is focused on the sale of purebred breeding stock instead of slaughter animals.
"That period sure changed the size of the cow herd nationally," said Heldermon, president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association. "Now there's a trend back toward the smaller-framed cattle. Of course I'm still a little biased toward Limousin, because they're the most efficient of the continental exotic breeds."
Heldermon said the transition was subtle and most producers probably didn't even notice as they adjusted to the larger cattle. The problem now isn't that they've been surprised in hindsight, but that the recent economy has driven tough decisions about how to resize operations and manage resources.
"Especially now, with the cost of feed going up so much," he said. "We've always known a bigger cow takes more feed, but there was enough of an advantage at market to make it worthwhile. So we tended to overlook the downside. But now with fertilizer, feed and fuel costs the way they are, people will be cutting back in some way."
Information from: The Journal Record, http://www.journalrecord.com
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
