Beef Buzz News
Amy Hagerman Highlights Federal Drought Help for Cattlemen and Lower Pricing for Forage/Water Testing from OSU
Fri, 07 Oct 2022 09:43:13 CDT
As pasture and range conditions continue to drop in the Southern Plains, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is visiting with Oklahoma State University Agricultural Economist, Amy Hagerman, talking about federal programs that can aid producers in covering the cost of buying and transporting forage for livestock.
“A lot of the programs that we have from the federal level are pretty consistent, so we are talking about the LFP Program (Livestock Forage Program), to cover the cost of the hay or the feed that is being brought into the operation,” Hagerman said.
Hagerman said producers can also take advantage of the ELAP (Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-raised Fish) transportation program to cover part of the transportation cost of bringing hay or feed in.
“The deadline for pasture, rangeland, and forage insurance protection is coming up pretty soon and that is something producers can consider protecting against upcoming months of drought given our weather expectations going forward,” Hagerman said. “Also, thinking about this Livestock Risk Protection- this price protection program- if you are going to invest the cost of feeding calves for a number of months into this winter, being able to lock in some price protection on those calves may be really valuable.”
Hagerman talked about how OSU Extension decided to decrease the cost of testing for their basic forage test, nitrate toxicity test, and livestock water test. These lower prices for OSU forage and water tests will be in effect through December 31st.
“So, what those new rates will look like is 2 dollars instead of 6 dollars for the nitrate toxicity, 4 dollars instead of 14 dollars for the basic forage, and 5 dollars instead of 15 dollars for the livestock water test,” Hagerman said. “It is just recognizing that people are going to be taking more tests because of the way forage is coming in, because of watching pond levels, those that still have water, going through into the coming year.”
Testing is open now, Hagerman said, so producers can go to their county extension office to find out the details and turn in their samples for their tests.
“We have videos on how to take a forage sample or how to take a water sample that are available on our OSU Extension web page, and we just hope people really take advantage of this to protect the health and safety of their livestock and make sure they are getting adequate nutrition going forward in this year,” Hagerman said.
The basic forage test, Hagerman said, is going to help the producer set up a ration around the hay.
“They will know how much the cows need to be eating around that particular kind of forage, what kind of supplementation they might need to do to make sure that cattle are getting the nutrients they need,” Hagerman said. “So, if you are bringing in hay from different places of different qualities, it helps you figure out how to do that ration for going forward into the next year, which is really important especially with late gestation cows in the coming months moving into spring calving season.”
In the water testing, Hagerman said as those pond levels go down, there can be an increased concentration in the water that is remaining of things like salinity and nitrate, so it is important to make sure that water is still good quality for the cattle that are drinking it.
Click the LISTEN BAR below to listen to Amy Hagerman talking about federal assistance for producers during drought.
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