The North Dakota State University Extension Service is partnering with the Dakota Feeder Calf Show to offer cattle producers an opportunity to explore possibilities for retaining ownership of cattle beyond the cow-calf phase of production.
The 13th annual Dakota Feeder Calf Show and Feedout is set for Saturday, Oct.15, in Turtle Lake. Cattle will be accepted at the weighing station before 11 a.m. and exhibited. Spring-born steer calves consigned to the Dakota Feeder Calf Show and Feedout then will be fed to market weight at the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center feedlot.
"When cattle prices are low or high, it's important to know how well your cattle perform through the market chain," says Karl Hoppe, Extension area livestock specialist at the Carrington Research Extension Center. "This cattle feedout project will give producers information on how their calves perform in the feed yard and on the calves' ultimate carcass value."
The feedout is a low-risk way of learning about these options with three or four calves instead of 100, he adds. Also, cattle producers have used the feeding and carcass information to select bulls that will improve the feedlot value of their calves.
During last year's feedout, the calves gained an average of 656 pounds in 200 days, with a total feeding cost (excluding interest) of 93.6 cents per pound of gain. The average sale weight was 1,272 pounds. The calves were fed with a market weight break-even of $104.73 per hundredweight.
"It's the variation among cattle that makes this project educational," Hoppe says.
In the 2010-11 feedout, the spread in net return per head between the average of the top five herds and average of the bottom five herds was $109.69. The top profiting herd made $239.53 per head, while the bottom herd made $129.84 per head. Weight gain per day of age was 3.67 pounds for the top profiting herd and 3.01 for the bottom herd.
"Small differences in production have a huge impact on profit," Hoppe says.
Feedout project staff will gather data on rate of gain, feed conversion and other characteristics during the trial. After the calves are marketed, the staff will collect and provide information to the entrants on carcass weight, meat quality and value.
Producers will be assessed an entry fee of $15 per calf. Dakota Feeder Calf Show officials will present $2,500 in awards to producers at the end of the trial.
For more information or to preregister calves, contact Hoppe at (701) 652- 2951; Darwin Chesrown, Turtle Lake Farmers Union Oil, at (701) 448-2356; Teresa Presser, Bank of Turtle Lake, at (701) 448- 2323; or Irene Graves, McLean County Extension, at (701) 462- 8541, ext. 208.
Cattle may be registered the day of the show, but the feedout is limited to 160 head.
