Oklahoma farmers grew 5.1 million acres of winter wheat last year.
Of that, about two million acres were dual-purpose winter wheat, used for grazing and grain production.
Producers in the southern Plains, which includes Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, usually graze cattle on more than half of the winter wheat acres in the region, said Robert Calhoun, senior agronomist with the Oklahoma State University’s agronomy farm in Stillwater, Okla.
Producers plant winter wheat in mid-September and typically begin grazing in the first week of December. The cattle remain on the field long enough to maximize gain but are removed in the spring to preserve the grain yield.
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Oklahoma State data indicates the yield penalty from grazing varies from year to year, but ranges from six to 18 percent.
Cattle weight gains over the winter do compensate for the lower yields of dual-purpose wheat.
“If your cattle are healthy and if there’s forage to be grazed, they can gain 2.5 pounds of beef per day, per animal,” Calhoun said. “Two lb. is not a hard goal to meet.”
Not all of the winter wheat is dual purpose. A portion is used strictly for grazing.
“They just let the cows eat it … until the cows wipe it out,” Calhoun said.
”So (more than) 50 percent of the acres get grazed. Out of that, 30 (percent) will never get harvested.”
Calhoun said most producers provide hay and mineral to cattle grazing on winter wheat to ensure the animals’ consume a complete diet.
