50 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN November 2024 PEERS PURSUING OPPORTUNITY GALEN ERICKSON, PH.D., | NEBRASKA CATTLE INDUSTRY PROFESSOR OF ANIMAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN The Nebraska Beef Cattle Industry Professorship of Animal Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) was established in 1994 with $200,000. This fund allows an annual stipend of $10,000 to be awarded to a professor within the UNL College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation awarded Galen Erickson, Ph.D., this annual stipend in 2023 for his cutting-edge research with feedlot rations. Following is his annual report for this stipend and how it has been used. I believe we need to be constantly in pursuit of the next opportunity. Recently, I spent a partial day visiting with a feedyard owner where the discussion focused on which ingredients in the diet offer the greatest opportunity. Many cattle producers, whether feedyard, backgrounder or cow-calf operations, receive advice from paid consultants for ingredient purchasing decisions. When evaluating feed ingredients, you should consistently price your ingredients (and pastures) based on market values. However, knowing market value is only the start. An essential first step is understanding that you need to correct for the moisture content of a feedstuff, therefore, pricing ingredients on a dry ton basis. This is especially important for wet ingredients such as silage, wet byproduct or grain products containing elevated amounts of water, including high-moisture corn or steam-flaked corn. The second step is to evaluate those feedstuffs for cost per unit of energy or cost per unit of protein (if an expensive feed containing sizable quantities of protein such as soybean meal, byproducts or protein supplements purchased commercially). In order to evaluate feedstuffs on a cost per unit of energy or protein basis, you have to know the energy and protein content of those feeds. In general, determining the protein content of feedstuffs is straightforward, accurate and fairly inexpensive. Feedstuffs are sent to a commercial laboratory that reports a crude protein value by measuring the N content of the feed. Energy is more complex, difficult to accurately quantify in a commercial lab and is often “debated” among groups, especially for byproduct feeds. I often joke that cattle cannot tell a lie. When we compare feedstuffs, our goal is to measure how well the cattle perform, based on intakes, gains and feed conversions, to determine the diet’s energy content, so we can provide producers the best information possible. Cattle performance is the best measure of the energy content of ingredients when expressed as a comparison relative to common feedstuffs, such as corn grain. A FEW OF MY PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS Choosing an effective yet inexpensive roughage/forage source is critically important. Most lab-calculated energy values for forages and silages are accurately estimated from fiber content. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) has completed a considerable amount of research with corn silage and corn/crop residues because these feedstuffs can be cost competitive on an energy basis. It is no secret that I am a fan of corn silage if producers price it correctly and manage the ensiling process to ensure minimal losses. For finishing cattle, the “good ol’ days” of cheap distillers year-round are gone. There is also a perception that the energy content of distillers is not as good as corn any longer. Byproduct feeds have changed, new processes are being adopted that further alter the energy and protein content, and thus, UNL is studying these impacts with funding from the Nebraska Corn Board. Even with changes, the protein is still valuable for ACCOUNTING • CONSULTING • FINANCIAL • M&A • TALENT • TECH LEARN MORE TODAY BY VISITING WWW.LUTZ.US LUTZ IS PROUD TO SUPPORT NEBRASKA CATTLEMEN! NC Trade Show Exhibitor
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