Fall is a wonderful season for agriculture and a time to, hopefully, reap the bounty of the year’s production.

Nutritional management plays a central role in promoting the health, productivity and reproductive success of beef cattle.

While understanding the impact of feedstuff dry matter is critical for making informed management decisions, we also must consider how differences in nutrient composition, in addition to dry matter, influence feedstuff cost scenarios.

As we work to understand the nutrition, physiology and genetic potential of the beef animal, we grow closer to formulating and implementing more precise feeding and supplementation programs. The ultimate goal is the development of nutrition programs that best and most cost-effectively support reproduction, growth and health of the cow, as well as growing and finishing cattle.

As the summer months progress, the forage quality for grazing cattle begins to change rapidly for much of the western U.S. Cattle performance is dependent on the consumption of digestible nutrients; thus, forage quality and availability are essential for grazing-based systems.