Smooth bromegrass pasture beef growing systems: Fertilization strategies and economic analysis

In recent years, prices for N fertilizer have increased dramatically, reducing net returns of fertilized pasture systems. A 5-yr study from 2005 to 2009 was conducted to evaluate management strategies and relative differences in profitability for 3 methods of backgrounding calves on smooth bromegrass pastures. Forty-five steers were used each year for a total of 225 animals in a randomized complete block design. Treatments included pastures fertilized in the spring with 90 kg N/ha (FERT), nonfertilized pastures with calves supplemented daily with dried distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS) at 0.6% of BW (SUPP), and control (CONT) pastures that had no fertilizer or supplementation applied. Pastures were rotationally stocked and put-and-take cattle were used to maintain similar grazing pressure on all treatments. Forage production was greatest for the FERT paddocks, intermediate for SUPP paddocks, and least for CONT paddocks (P \u3c 0.01). Stocking rates were greater for SUPP pastures compared with nonfertilized pastures because of increased forage production and replacement of approximately 0.79 kg of forage for each 1 kg of supplement fed. At the conclusion of grazing, SUPP steers were 40 kg heavier than either the FERT or CONT steers, which resulted in increased gross revenue of $44.14/steer for the SUPP treatment (P \u3c 0.01). Net returns were greatest for SUPP at $17.55/steer (P \u3c 0.01), whereas both the CONT and FERT treatments had negative net returns of −$6.20 and −$8.71/steer, respectively. In the future, the relationship between prices for land, N fertilizer, and DDGS will affect the net returns of all 3 treatments