Summer is Fast Approaching!!!

It looks to be getting hot in a hurry. I had visited with a few producers about getting pastures sprayed and some different things to look at. Night temperatures were remaining on the cooler side, and what that does is halting grasses from growing, and when grasses are not actively growing herbicides become less effective. Certain herbicides are less effective when temperatures are below 70 degrees. This should change in the coming weeks and allow us to get going. On the bright side, cattle love the cooler weather. Mosquito and fly pressure stays down when we get in those 50-degree nights. In this issue, I am going to focus on summer forage options, your millets and sorghum sudan grasses, fly control, and some marketing.

Summer Forages and Hay Fields

Typically, in this area we do not look for a summer forage. Why, well because we generally have bermuda and bahiagrass ready for the cows. Planting summer forages can be an option to provide cattle an extra supplement for the summer months. Millets are some of the most used summer forages available for South Louisiana. Millets can grow easy and require little maintenance. One thing to keep in mind about millets, it does better get established when its dry and hot. Well drained areas are ideal for planting, and seed is cheap. Nitrogen applications should be at a minimum to prevent nitrate build up in the plant. This can cause health issues with cattle.

The hay season is here, and those stored forages are what we depend heavily upon for winter supplementation. Documentation shows that nutrition represents the largest input cost associated with cattle production, accounting for 40-60% of annual cow cost. With forages being the basis of beef cattle nutrition in the south, the most reliable and predictable factor for assessing sustainability of cow-calf production is that of persistence and maintenance of forages. Stocking rate, grazing intensity, and soil nutrient upkeep are the primary management strategies that control the desired level of forage and cow-calf production. Do not let body condition scores (and ultimately reproductive efficiency) in your cow herd slip because you cut corners on forage management in the short-term (warm season perennials) and in the long-term (cool season annuals). Don’t let a $16 soil sample go by the waste side. This can help you improve hay fields by adding what is needed instead of not giving enough.

Dry and Wet Weather Brings Flies

Horn Fly — Horn flies bite cattle and feed on their blood; they weaken the animal and make it lose weight. The horn fly is about 3/8 inch in length. It is gray and the head of this fly points downward, and the wings are held flat over the back. The females can lay several hundred eggs in their 3-week lifespan. They lay their eggs under the edges of fresh dung pats where they develop in 10–20 days, depending on the temperature.

Deer flies and Horse flies – These tabanids are some that we deal quite extensively in south Louisiana or pretty much anywhere there is abundance of standing water. Adult females feed then lay eggs on vegetation next to water, eggs hatch then fall into the water and feed on organic matter. Larvae molt faster in warmer weather and pupate into adults. One life cycle takes around two months. Adult flies are normally present for about one month, however new batches can hatch every week. The same methods typically apply to fly control. Altosid is still a good chemical option in IGR minerals. Consult your veterinarian for Veterinary Feed Directive guidelines.

Horn Fly

• Rotating Pasture to prevent manure build up.
• Ear tags — Insecticide-impregnated ear tags are applied to the ears of cattle and release a small amount of insecticide over a long period of time.

Dragging pastures to allow heat to kill the eggs. Bedding areas where this a lot of manure also can be dug out and spread.

Deer Fly

• Tall grass next to ponds, canals, or another water source should be clipped and sprayed. If there is no vegetation for eggs, then larvae cannot get in water.
• Rid of organic material next to muddy areas where cattle tend to congregate. Hay piles can be burned or destroyed, which can kill any larva that would be present.

Beef Brunch Educational Series

The LSU AgCenter will be hosting a free two-part webinar, “What’s Bugging You?”, on Tuesday, May 12, and Tuesday, May 19, 2020 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. as part of the new educational webinar series, Beef Brunch.

• Part 1, on May 12th, will feature Dr. Sebe Brown, Field Crops Extension Entomologist, discussing management of armyworms and bermudagrass stem maggot in pastures and fields.

• Part 2, on May 19th, will feature Mr. Jason Holmes, Regional Livestock Specialist, reviewing methods of external parasite control for cattle.

This webinar will be hosted through Microsoft Teams. An internet connection is required but a microphone and webcam are not necessary. The Teams application may be downloaded by smartphone or tablet. Participants may join by accessing the webinar online at http://lsuagcenter.com/beefbrunch. We recommend that participants test the system’s connectivity before the meeting.

I will be putting on another webinar every few weeks dealing with different issues in the cattle industry affecting South Louisiana. The next video will be dealing with economics and the industry and give you some insight on where the industry is heading with Dr. Kurt Guidry.

Beef Production and Imports

On April 28, 2020 President Trump invoked the Defense Protection Act to classify meat plants as essential infrastructure that must remain open. This act does not mean that slaughter and fabrication will return to pre-COVID 19 levels in the short term as plants have had to slow production due to worker absenteeism as well as greater distancing between employees on the line. For the week ending May 2, slaughter is estimated at 425,000 head, down 8.6% from a week earlier and 36.8% from the same period in 2019. Like cattle slaughter, beef production is down an estimated 8.3% from the week ending April 11, 2020 and 22.8% from the same period in 2019.

In case you have not seen this, a study done by Dr. Derrell Peel of Oklahoma State that estimates the impact to the cattle industry from the COVID-19 pandemic. This may be of interest to you and some of your producers. The direct link to the report is:

Economic Damages to the U.S. Beef Cattle Industry Due to COVID-19

USDA announces CFAP

• The USDA announced recently the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) which will provide $19 billion to provide critical support to our farmers and ranchers, maintain the integrity of our food supply chain, and ensure every American continues to receive and have access to the food they need
• One of the components of CFAP is reported as being direct support to farmers and ranchers. The component of the CFAP will provide $16 billion in direct support based on actual losses for agricultural producers where prices and market supply chains have been impacted and will assist producers with additional adjustment and marketing costs resulting from lost demand and short-term oversupply for the 2020 marketing year caused by COVID-19.
• No specific details of the program have been released to this point. At this point, it is unsure of exactly which commodities will be included, exactly how much funding will be available for each commodity, and exactly how funds will be distributed to producers.
• The following is a link to an article from the American Farm Bureau that discusses the CFAP program. This article outlines some general procedures that the USDA may use in implementing the program and some general dollar figures that might be available for certain commodity categories. The link to the Farm Bureau article is:

Update: What’s in USDA’s New Coronavirus Food Assistance Program?

https://www.farmers.gov/cfap

Any questions or suggestions contact:

Bradley Pousson
337-905-1318
337-370-9067