Denise Schwab, interim IBC director column
April 2024
Hopefully April brings much needed showers! I think the entire state is concerned about continuing dry conditions, slow pasture growth, and delayed germination. It seems like our never-ending mantra from our beef team is "Delay turnout!" As much as we all want to get cows and calves out of drylot or confined pens, turning cows onto pastures early drastically reduces the yearlong yield potential of that paddock. If you must turn out early, limit cows to one sacrifice paddock that can be renovated with annuals for summer grazing or rotate different starting paddocks each year to give them some chance to rejuvenated with perennial forages long term.
If you do have to turn out on pastures early, remember that grass growth is still slow until we get moisture and warm temperatures, at the same time the cow’s nutritional requirements are at the peak of lactation. Supplement cows on pastures till forage growth exceeds the cows’ grazing needs. Lactating cows need both energy and protein to produce milk and prepare for breeding season, so high quality hay, corn silage, or corn co-products are all good supplements to include. And don’t forget to provide a good mineral source. If you need help calculating a lactation ration, contact your ISU Extension beef specialist.
Another great nutrition resource on our Iowa Beef Center team is Garland Dahlke, research scientist on campus. Garland is best known for his computer programming skills but is also a trained ruminant nutritionist. Garland grew up on a dairy farm near Marshfield, WI, so brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on feeding high producing dairy cows, but also got his own start in the Beef X Dairy world raising crossbred baby calves before beef on dairy was cool. He received his BS from the University of Wisconsin River Falls in Animal Science, then received his MS and PhD from Iowa State. During that time, he also developed computer software for finishing hogs and expanded that into the beef Feedlot Monitoring Program which is used by feedyards across the upper Midwest. He also helped develop computer software for carcass evaluation with real-time ultrasound.
Following his formal education Garland went back to the family dairy farm where he intended to spend the rest of his life, but eventually started a career in nutrition and feed sales. Garland says he gained a lot of experience in a short time dealing primarily with dairy cows but also growing and finishing cattle and a variety of other species. I think it gave him the skill to match what SHOULD work with what really works on the farm. A few years later, he was asked to return to ISU to support the Feedlot Monitoring Program and develop additional computer applications, and he’s been here for the last 20 years.
In addition to the Feedlot Monitoring Program, Garland also developed the Estrus Synchronization Planner with over 2500 downloads annually, numerous spreadsheet tools with over 12,000 downloads, and the popular Beef Ration and Nutrition Decision Software (BRaNDS) with over 4000 sales. He also created state-specific versions for six other states or regions. He has also developed his own Feed Intake Monitoring System used at the ISU Beef Nutrition farm and the Armstrong Research Farm to measure daily individual feed intake.
While Garland enjoys creating computer software to manage production challenges, he really loves the challenge of nutritional problems of individual producers. And he is invaluable to our team on many research projects! If you have unique feedstuffs available or challenging nutritional problems, don’t hesitate to reach out to Garland for help.
The IBC at Iowa State University serves as the university’s extension program to cattle producers. Our center comprises a team of faculty and staff from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. We work together to develop and deliver the latest in research-based information to improve the profitability and vitality of Iowa’s beef industry. If you’d like to be notified of updates on progress of research projects or programs that might be coming to your area, please subscribe to our “Growing Beef” newsletter by following the link on our website, www.iowabeefcenter.org. If you have a question, use our “Ask our Experts” link. Also, feel free to call us at 515-294-BEEF or email us at beefcenter@iastate.edu. You can follow @iowabeefcenter on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
