A Deeper Dive
Here are three "Angus At Work" episodes focused on feeding strategies and management.
February 24, 2025
There are few things cow herd success is more dependent on than proper nutrition and resource management. With spring on the horizon for many of our subscribers, now is a good time to explore nutrition and management strategies for your operation. Here are a handful of Angus At Work episodes to assist.
High-performance genetics need high-performance nutrition. Cows are the engine that drive the industry, and high-performing cows need highly tuned fuel. If you’re still feeding cows the way you did 20 years ago, you’re shortchanging those modern genetics, says Ted Perry with Purina Animal Nutrition.
Perry and host Miranda Reiman chat about what cows need, fetal programming effects, how mineral intake during the last trimester can affect up to 30-40 pounds of weaning weight in that calf, how to tell if a cow is truly getting what she needs, and how to maximize the use of low-quality hay.
“I think we’re still doing a lot of what we did 10 years ago, and that’s fine. Let’s face it, cows are there to use up forage. If I don’t have grass, I don’t have cows. But the couple of things that we need to think about is when we define high-performance cows, those are cows that are breeding, and they’re producing bigger calves, and they’re weaning off instead of a 350-pound calf, they’re weaning off a 600-pound calf. That’s a lot of calories different.” — Ted Perry
Flexibility offers a lot of options. On this episode of Angus at Work, Karla Wilke, associate professor of range management and cow-calf specialist, offers options for income generation and additional enterprises.
Wilke also took the opportunity to share some interesting research regarding smart supplementation strategies to potentially implement within your own cow herd, and how the timing of that supplementation can affect growth while saving you some money.
“We talked a little bit about really evaluating what your forage resources are [and] what might work best for them. You have some annual forages? You have a place over here that’s hard to get to that you don’t want to calve there, whatever, so this might be a good place for them. But we talked about forage resources, labor resources, facilities, equipment, marketing options, just all the things that might go into it that you need to think through from start to finish before you decide whether or not you really are set up to do this or could get set up to do this.” — Karla Wilke
If you’ve ever found yourself saying, “Stop blaming cows,” you will be particularly interested in the industry sustainability and transparency discussion on this episode.
With all the climate conversation taking place in the news and legislation, our team wanted to learn more about something touted as a way for farmers and ranchers to be an active part of the solution. Angus At Work staff took the opportunity to sit down with Ashley Bruner of Agoro Carbon Alliance to ask some questions about the carbon market.
“So if farmers and ranchers are thinking about a carbon program, I really recommend you look at that length of the contract support you’re going to have after you sign up for a carbon contract. Are you going to be supported, or are you just going to be left and you have no idea what’s going on?” — Ashley Bruner
Featured in the 2025 Angus Beef Bulletin
Listen in for answers straight from the experts
The Angus At Work podcast provides news and information on health, nutrition, genetics, marketing and management. Get your information straight from the source as we talk to technical experts, American Angus Association staff and fellow cattlemen about topics pertinent to your bottom line.
Recent episodes include:
- A Sale Barn Perspective with the Beaver Stockyards Team
- Final Market Update for 2024 with Troy Marshall
- Comparing EPDs Across Breeds featuring Esther Tarpoff
- Bull Buying Thoughts from Your Angus Regional Managers
- Targeting Disease with Medgene Labs featuring Bob Gentry
- Changing the Pickup Purchasing Landscape with Pat Driscoll
- Insight from the Packer with Chad Barker
- Reimaging Red Meat Yield with Dale Woerner
Topics: Feedstuffs , Management , Nutrition , Pasture and Forage , Genetics , Sustainability
Publication: Angus Beef Bulletin
Issue: March 2025
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