Jim Gerrish is a cattle producer from Idaho and he is known nationally for cell grazing and for the idea of running cattle without feeding them much, if any hay. Gerrish grew up a crop farmer, so when he was first introduced to the idea of cell grazing in the 1970's, it just made biological and financial sense to him. Gerrish doesn't like to put up hay, as he would rather let his cattle harvest their own feed year around. Gerrish lived in Missouri for 23 years, before moving to Idaho 11 years ago. When he started out in Missouri, he had a very conventional cow-calf operation that calved in February and March and they made and fed a lot of hay. By the time he left Missouri, they were calving in April and May and they fed very little hay. If they needed hay, they purchased it to limit equipment and maintenance costs. Along the way, he realized a key lesson.


"If you are in the cow-calf business, you should stock your ranch to your winter grazing capacity, not your summer grazing capacity," Gerrish said. "So, we changed from being strictly a cow-calf operation to being a mixed cow-calf and custom grazed enterprise, so we brought in a lot more stock April through July and early August to utilize the spring flush of growth and then when those animals left we stockpiled those acres for our winter cow feed."


Gerrish custom grazed beef stockers, replacement heifers, dry beef cows and cow-calf pairs. He said they didn't get locked into believing that stockers was their only option and they found they could make more money on other classes of cattle, then if they were grazing strictly stockers. He said this allowed them to increase their stocking rate without a cash expense in purchasing livestock.

I caught up with Gerrish at the recent Oklahoma No-Till meeting.  To read or to listen to this Beef Buzz feature, click here.  

Peel Recommends Forage Planning to Manage Cost and Enhance Productivity

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow/Calf Corner newsletter.


The old saying is "hope for the best but plan for the worst". When it comes to forage considerations for cow-calf producers I believe there is a need to plan for the worst...and plan for the best. And it's not too early to begin forage planning for 2015. There are several reasons to plan now for the coming growing season including; opportunities to manage forage costs; opportunities to enhance forage productivity and total forage production in 2015; and opportunities to invest in long-term forage productivity. Blanket recommendations are not possible because of widely diverse geo-climatic regions and variability of individual situations within and across production environments. Oklahoma includes tremendous diversity in production environments that are representative of much of the country including native range and introduced pastures; warm and cool season forages; elevations from less than 300 feet to nearly 5000 feet; and precipitation from less than 15 inches to over 50 inches. Forage planning has value in every environment and every situation.


The continuing drought threat makes planning for the worst imperative. It is important to know the current health and situation of pastures. Some areas have been in persistent drought for four or more years and forage is weakened and needs time to recover. Realistic assessment of carrying capacity is critical even if average or better precipitation occurs this spring. In other cases drought conditions improved significantly last year only to regress this winter and threaten spring forage growth. Good hay stocks were reported going into the winter and many producers will have hay available to provide some flexibility this spring in the event of drought delayed or reduced forage production. It is important now to assess how much flexibility (time) will be available and determine decision triggers that will indicate when adjustments must be made in animal numbers. Should it become necessary: what animals will be sold? when? where? and how?


Planning now can reduce forage costs and enhance forage productivity in the event of average or better forage conditions.  To read more from Dr. Peel, click here.     

In response to a recent opinion piece in Autoweek entitled "Can't We Just Get Rid of Ethanol?" by comedian Jay Leno, Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, released the following statement:


"This commentary from Jay Leno should go down as the worst joke he has ever told. I have always found that good jokes have some thread of truth in them, but clearly Mr. Leno is out of his league when it comes to understanding the benefits of homegrown American ethanol.


"Ethanol supports American jobs and a robust rural economy here at home and it also helps reduce carbon emissions by mitigating climate change and reduces our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil. What Mr. Leno fails to acknowledge is that ethanol is the cheapest source of octane, the key component in fuel that drives performance - something he should know about as an avid motorist and car collector.


"In fact, in 2008 Jay Leno was touting ethanol for its performance and environmental benefits - one can only come to the conclusion that he has changed his tune based not on facts or real world testing, but on politics and information perpetuated by Big Oil and other critics who consistently seek to discredit a true American
 

To read more from Tom Buis, click here.  

Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains-  Click here to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.

USMEF Market Expo Offers Firsthand Look at Abundant Opportunities in Japan

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Market Expo, a market education program that allows producers and other USMEF members to observe international market development activities for U.S. pork and beef, concluded Friday, March 6, in Tokyo. 


The Tokyo segment was highlighted by a visit to FoodEx - Asia's largest food exhibition. FoodEx attracts nearly 3,000 exhibitors from 80 countries, and more than 77,000 attendees over four days. The USMEF delegation came away impressed with the strong presence of U.S. pork and beef at FoodEx and the enthusiastic manner in which U.S. products are received by buyers in attendance.


"Being here at FoodEx really drives home for me of just how badly all of these suppliers want to be in the Japanese market," said Jennifer Houston, a cattle producer from Sweetwater, Tennessee, who serves as chair of the Federation of State Beef Councils. "Japan is extremely important for them, just as it is for the U.S. meat industry, so the market is intensely competitive. But the buyers I have met with are just thrilled with U.S. beef and interested in purchasing more, which is gratifying to see."


To read more, click here.
  

From the Oklahoma State Capitol- One Ag Related Bill Goes Down- Two Others Pass

House Bill 1104 was defeated on the floor of the Oklahoma House Monday- 32-48.  This is the so called Feral Swine bill, that would have required testing of captured wild hogs before they could be moved.  State Representative Scott Biggs has already filed for reconsideration- so it is possible the bill will be reworked and brought back to the House later this session.

Two measures that did pass yesterday have earned two thumbs up from the Oklahoma Cattlemen.

The first was HJR 1013 by Rep. Jerry McPeak from Warner.  This resolution strongly opposes EPA's overreach with the Waters of the US (WOTUS) proposal. "In a statement provided to us by Executive Vice President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, Michael Kelsey- "OCA is very appreciative the House recognizes the erosion of property rights with EPA's WOTUS proposal and passed HJR 1013 unanimously by a 92-0 vote!  This should send a strong message to DC that Oklahoma will not sit by and let EPA take our water and land rights."

The second measure passed around 9:30 pm was HB 1387 by Rep. Casey Murdock from Felt.  This bill increases the penalties for cattle theft by increasing the maximum prison sentence to 15 years, removing the cap on the fine and giving one-third of the three times value fine to the Department of Agriculture Investigators.  "With the increase in cattle prices, we must increase the penalty for theft as a measure to help protect our beef producers in Oklahoma and helping our wonderful investigators along the way is icing on the cake!  Michael Kelsey of the OCA says his group greatly appreciates the House for passing this good legislation."