45 



slightly less than the usual purchase price of average hay. This production 

 practice appears to be the most economical; if the proper soil and water 

 conditions exist, it should be considered by ranchers. If a rancher does not 

 have meadowland suited to these practices, either the light application of 

 nitrogen fertilizer (40 to 50 pounds annually) under the two-cut system of 

 harvesting, or the two- cut system alone will provide the least expensive 

 alternative for producing high-protein hay. 



A rancher who has only a limited acreage with soil profile and irrigation 

 facilities suited to these various management techniques may want to raise 

 a very high-protein superhay to feed as a supplement. In this way, he could 

 feed weaner calves 11 pounds of basic ration hay with a protein content 

 averaging between 8 and 9 percent and approximately 1 pound hay with a 

 crude protein content of 14. 5 percent or more per day. 



Several feasible alternative practices are open to ranch operators in 

 producing superhay to be used as a supplement (table 16). All of the alter- 

 natives involve a two-cut system, either alone or with nitrogen fertilizer. 

 High rates of nitrogen application show the greatest potential return. Very 

 high rates of nitrogen application have a residual effect on the following 

 year's production, thus making this practice more favorable than appears 

 in the data shown. Offsetting this, however, is the increased risk because 

 of higher cash inputs. 



One factor that might also be considered is that under normal ranch 

 operations, the acreage set aside for superhay does not need to be large. 

 For example, 100 weaner calves receiving 8 percent crude protein hay as 

 their base feed would require for supplemental feed the production from 

 3. 75 acres of two-cut native meadow. If the two-cut harvest method were 

 used with an application of 320 pounds of nitrogen per acre, production from 

 only 2 acres would be needed. Therefore, the acreage that might be used to 

 produce superhay for supplemental feeding on a typical ranch would be small. 



Considerations Other Than Cost of Feed 



The rancher is especially interested in the number of cow-units 14/ he 

 can winter with the production from his meadowland under different 

 management practices and in the costs of his winter feed (table 17). 



14/ 100 cow-units for a cow-calf ranch are based on the feed needed to 

 winter 100 cows and 20 head of weaner heifers or, for a cow -yearling 

 ranch, the feed needed to winter 100 cows and 90 weaners. 



