Working Ranch Magazine Summer 2025

Despite

Cody and Lindsey Runft pictured with their family.

the Drought not need adjustments during drought. “There are many drought resources available to producers, especially through state extension services,” Moore concludes. “Knowing what you will do and when is part of a drought plan. Follow a drought monitor at https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu or www.drought.gov. Early weaning and supplemental feeding are great ways to stay within a budget. Keep your cattle year-round, but have a plan and imple ment that plan when drought arises.” RIGHT SIZE THE HERD Clay Burson, PhD, Beef Technical Specialist with Zinpro, encourages pro ducers to be proactive during drought because dry spells are inevitable in many parts of the U.S. He recommends that producers right size the herd, mak ing sure the stocking rate is suitable for the operation’s pasture types. They should also monitor water sources. “When we have drought, we have lim ited surface water,” Burson explains. “Animals gather closer to available water. We also have additional chal lenges with the greater evaporation of water, which can concentrate antag onists and other minerals as well as cause algae blooms. If you have cattle spread over the ranch with multiple water locations, and you remove some of those sources [due to drought], you’ll probably change grazing distribution patterns. Placing supplements to draw cattle to underuti lized areas of pasture is a great strat egy. Supplement cattle appropriately to meet their nutritional requirements. We can feed the rumen’s bugs, provid ing greater digestibility of available for ages. Making the most of what’s avail able even with limitations is important.” Another smart management tactic is to wean calves early. When cows nurse, they have a slightly higher require ment for energy and other dietary nutrients. If operators pull those calves off early, that removes pressure from that dam, reducing her energy requirement by 20-to-30% when she is no longer lactating.

CODY CATTLE COMPANY

Ranchers should consider which cows to retain. Burson recommends culling low-performing females. “Be sure to get rid of open cows and heifers that might not produce a calf at the right time every year,” Burson advises. “Keep your strongest genetics represented in the herd. Older, broken-mouth cows [that are losing teeth] or the ones that don’t fit your top tier of females [should be removed]. Make sure your best ani mals are grazing any available forage.” Cattle always benefit from a quality mineral supplement because there is a performance response in the herd 24/7, 365 days a year. “There may be changes beef nutritionists make, espe cially to the macromineral within that mineral supplement,” Burson explains. “I recommend ranchers get advice from someone locally who understands your forage base, production goals, and management strategies to get a good idea of how you might manip ulate those macrominerals to reach cattle requirements. Make sure your trace mineral supplement is solid. It’s essential in good conditions and even more so in dry conditions.” Burson says prebiotics or probiotics support the rumen’s bugs when forage is poor during drought. Many prod ucts in the marketplace are designed to improve forage intake and digest ibility for cattle on pasture or grazing

stockers. Burson encourages pro ducers to feed a product that is well supported by good research. These supplements have value in a cow-calf operation, although there is much quality variation in the industry. Over the last decade, fetal pro gramming, generational nutrition, or developmental programming, which include how ranchers care for gestat ing cattle have been popular topics in the beef industry. Studies show that fetal nutrition can affect the calf’s lifetime health and performance well before it hits the ground. “During drought, we still have to consider those developing fetuses that might be challenged by a nutritional deficiency in the dam and can poten tially have issues later in life,” Burson explains. “If we do a good job with our supplement program and are strategic about how we care for cows and heif ers during drought, we can navigate those challenging times. In some sit uations, when heifer calves are born to females gestating during drought, they may have more productivity challenges than females born to dams that gestated during better times. The environment isn’t just important for the cow but also for the fetus as well. If we do our best taking care of those cows, that pays dividends for subse quent generations of cattle.”

38 I SUMMER 2025 WORKING RANCH audited readers run 21 million head of beef cattle.