Working Ranch Magazine Summer 2025

on hand to avoid buying it.” Wesley Moore, Beef Technical Specialist with Cargill Animal Health, recommends that cow-calf oper ators develop a drought plan that follows certain trip points, such as the amounts and dates of rainfall. Planning helps producers manage the herd and resources during drought. Moore says,” Not having a plan sets the operation up for failure.” Moore reports that ranchers have many management options during drought. He recommends restrictive grazing, in which a large pasture is divided into smaller strips, using tem porary fencing. Cattle graze one strip at a time in a five-to-seven-day rota tion. “We can utilize upwards of half of that forage, as opposed to a contin uous grazing system, where we see a lot of preferential grazing and a much lower utilization of forages per acre.” If a rancher provides free choice hay in an open-bottom bale feeder, cattle waste up to 30%. When using improved bale feeders or providing sheeting below the feeder, operators can drastically improve waste. Many producers cut corners during dry spells, especially with mineral sup plementation. “Minerals are especially critical during drought,” Moore reports. “Forage goes dormant [earlier], losing essential nutrients during drought, reducing the precursors the animal uses [for important body functions], especially Vitamin A. During a dry period, it’s critical to supplement ade quate amounts of vitamins A, D, and E.” Moore advises ranchers to make sure cattle consume minerals at the labeled rate. Because dormant forage is lower in phosphorous, ranchers should con sider a mineral with higher phospho rous levels during dry spells. The essen tial trace minerals, such as copper, zinc, selenium, manganese, and iodine, do

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