Feeding for a bright future with beef

By Matt Reese

Pasture, hay, corn silage, cover crops, row crops — all sources of cattle feed faced challenges from the dry conditions around Ohio in 2024. As a result, beef producers are having to adjust accordingly as they make plans for feeding their cattle this winter.

“Pastures are gone. I’ve got to think there’s hardly any pasture left anywhere in Ohio and that means you start feeding hay,” said Stan Smith, program assistant for agriculture and natural resources in Fairfield County for Ohio State University Extension. “And in parts of the state we had the perfect storm of way too wet in April and May so the hay matured a little earlier than normal and it got made late because it was so wet. The quality was not the greatest and then we got into the dry June, July and August and regrowth has been horrible. Normally we would get abundant growth of second- and third-cutting of high quality to blend that first cutting down and we simply haven’t gotten that this year.… Continue reading