Skip to main content

Beef Nutrition

All Beef Nutrition Content

Cattle grazing snow-dusted winter pasture.

Protecting Your Pastures While Winter Grazing

Winter grazing of stockpiled grass produced during the growing season can help extend the grazing season and reduce winter feed costs. Learn some strategies to successfully incorporate winter grazing into your operation.

Supplementing Cows on Pasture to Stretch Forage Supplies

With dry conditions spreading quickly across the Dakota’s, producers are forced to make challenging decisions on how many cow/calf pairs to turn out to pasture, and then determine how long the pastures will even last if moisture doesn’t come soon. During the spring/summer months, supplementing grass with energy and protein can decrease forage dry matter consumption.

Row of black cattle eating roughage in a feedlot.

Roughage Use in Finishing Cattle Diets

Research has found that greater incorporation of roughage in cattle diets may reduce the risk of digestive upset and simplify management with minimal efficiency losses.

Mixed cattle eating at a feedbunk.

How Much Silage Can I Feed To Finishing Cattle?

What effect does feeding increased amounts of corn silage have on beef cattle performance and system-wide efficiency? See what a set of recent SDSU Extension research experiments found out.

Black angus cattle eating from a feed bunk.

Feeding Hybrid Rye Grain to Cattle

Feedlot researchers at SDSU were approached to evaluate the potential for hybrid rye to be used in cattle finishing diets. See what they found in terms of cattle performance and feed efficiency.

group of cattle at feedbunk

Feeding Damaged Wheat to Cattle

Feeding damaged wheat to livestock is one way to salvage value from the crop. Wheat can work well in cattle diets with some limitations.

Pile of chopped silage in front of a tractor.

Does Kernel Processing Silage Pay for Growing and Finishing Beef Cattle?

Kernel processing involves passing harvested silage through a set of rollers mounted on the chopper. But does this extra step result in improved efficiency and reduced costs of gain?

Urea supplement in a feed scoop.

Considerations of Urea Use in Cattle Rations

In beef cattle nutrition, it is important to understand how protein is used along with the various protein sources available for diets. Urea is an example of a non-protein nitrogen source that can be used in diets in certain situations.

black cattle lined up at a feedbunk

Using Corn Wisely for Replacement Heifers

Producers’ goals are to maximize returns and this could be achieved through least-cost rations that provide the desired performance.

Feed truck loading up a feedlot feed bunker.

Incorporating Corn Into Beef Cow Rations Can Save Forage and Feed Expenses

For operations with the right facilities and management ability, replacing forage with corn can stretch forage supplies and potentially reduce feed costs.