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Production of Slaughter Steers from Forages in the Arid West^{1 ,2,}

Squaw Butte Experiment Station, Burns,OR 97720^,4

Abstract

A 4-year study was initiated in 1965 to test the feasibility of supplementing yearling steers on range to finish at an acceptable slaughter grade and compare this to other finishing regimes. Two hundred and twenty yearling Hereford steers were involved in these studies and stratified by weight to five treatments. Finishing phase treatments were: (1) supplemented on range for 90 days (2) feedlot for 90 days (3) supplemented on range for 90 days then to the feedlot for 65 days (4) feedlot for 155 days and (5) irrigated pasture for 40 days and feedlot for 115 days. All animals were supplemented and handled alike during the preceding summer grazing period.

Continuous growth was necessary from birth to slaughter for range supplemented animals to reach desired slaughter weights. Weaning time, winter feed levels and supplementation on range during the growing period had to be considered to provide for this growth.

Steers slaughtered off range weighed less, gained less, and graded lower than steers on the various feedlot systems. However, their total concentrate intake was 34 to 76% of that of the feedlot steers and they returned more per dollar invested in feed. Adding yardage, interest on money, equipment and environmental preservation costs would put the range fattened steers in an even stronger position.

Chemical curing of grasses for late season grazing offers a potential alternative that could produce highly acceptable carcasses from range with only 10% of the grain intake under normal feedlot situations. Other ramifications and alternatives for producing slaughter steers from forages are discussed.

¹ Invitational paper presented as part of the Symposium on Finishing Cattle on Pasture and Other Forages, held during the Annual Meeting of the A.S.A.S. at Fort Collins, CO, July 27 to 30, 1975.

² Technical Paper No. 4127. Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.

³ Assistant Professor and Professor of Animal Nutrition, respectively, Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.

⁴ The Squaw Butte Experiment Station is jointly operated by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.