Animal Science, Department of
Date of this Version
2025
Citation
2025 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report, pages 18-21
University of Nebraska Extension, 2025
Abstract
Summary with Implications
Cereal rye is the most common cover crop planted today. With its good winter tolerance and rapid spring growth during a gap in perennial pasture productivity, it is an attractive forage source in early spring. Unfortunately, optimum stocking rates and how they are related to forage biomass availability are unknown. The study objective was to understand the effect of forage allowance on steer performance when rotationally grazing fall-planted cereal rye in spring. Stocking rate was negatively correlated with pounds of forage offered. Surprisingly, amount of forage offered related to average daily gain. Growing steers grazing cereal rye gained 2.01 ± 0.31 lb/d. This was likely due to the high forage nutritive value throughout the season which was a result of the rotationally grazed system. Thus, for ~750 lbs steers, stocking rates between 630 and 2,300 lbs BW/ac (1 to 3 hd/ac) will result in similar average daily gain in rotationally grazed cereal rye systems. Therefore, stocking at the higher end of this range will likely result in the best economic return.
Included in
Large or Food Animal and Equine Medicine Commons, Meat Science Commons, Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health Commons
Comments
Copyright 2025, Board of Regents, University of Nebraska. Used by permission