Kentucky cattle production has increase over the past ten years.  Producers are looking for ways to market their beef to insure a steady income and maximize profits  

The Beef Specialist at the Western Kentucky Research Facility worked with the Christian County direct to consumer beef business through partnerships with local butcher shops.  The development of their direct to consumer beef enterprisebrought about several challenges to the operation. One of the main challenges was the increased demand for stored forages. As the producers were not going to increase land allocated to cattle, there was an increased demand for forage due to the greater number of cattle being maintained on their property throughout the year. Due to the demands of their other farming enterprises intensive grazing systems such as rotational or strip grazing were not practical. However, because of the quality of the crop ground that these producers operate, it was suggested that they look to corn silage to provide a forage and energy source to the diets of the finishing cattle on the operation. 

Currently the cattle were being fed daily out of buckets, meaning labor was already being utilized to provide feed to the cattle daily. The diets that were being fed included hay and purchased commodity feeds that came at a significant cost. A second challenge to managing this operation was the number of different groups of cattle that needed to be managed at any given time. This includes three separate groups of cattle within the enterprise alone and means that three different diets were needing to be fed to those cattle at any given time. Furthermore, as the enterprise supplies fresh beef, they must have a steady supply of cattle ready to go to harvest throughout the year. 

To summarize the challenges for this operation, these producers had limited ground available for forage production, and needed to be able to finish cattle slowly to ensure a steady supply of beef for the operation. Thus, the specialist worked with the producers to determine what their current feed costs were and what diets were currently being fed to the cattle in the program. Taking this info, she was able to determine not only the cost of their diets on a per head per day basis, but also how much the cattle were predicted to grow based on their current feed rations. The specialist then worked to formulate corn-silage based diets that would allow cattle to grow at the same rate as they had on the previous diets. By taking this approach it ensured that cattle would still be finished slowly, but also allowed us to easily compare the feed costs associated with the old and new diets. 

The groups of cattle are broken up based on weight, and are grouped as pre-conditioning, growing, or finishing. The initial cost per head per day for the pre-conditioning group was $1.39, however with the use of corn silage the new cost per head per day for this group is $0.68. Resulting in a reduction of 49%. The initial cost per head per day for the growing group was $1.69, however with the use of corn silage the new cost per head per day for this group is $0.84. Resulting in a reduction of 50%. The initial cost per head per day for the finishing group was $2.38, however with the use of corn silage the new cost per head per day for this group is $1.19. Resulting in a reduction of 50%.

Currently the producers are in the process of transitioning their program to this new model and will start feeding diets to cattle in the fall of 2020. The use of corn silage diets in this program, not only resulted in decreased feed costs, but also relieved stress on the available forages on the operation, allowing for more hay to be available to the cow herd. This program also takes advantage of the high-quality ground and agronomic expertise of the producers, resulting in a more efficient use of their land to support their expanding cattle operations. This transition can serve as a potential model for other producers with successful grain enterprises looking to optimize cattle production.