A switch to custom grazing yearlings has improved one producer’s quality of life and bottom line.
Instead of using machines to bale hay, John Bryson of Young, Sask., now uses his cattle to graze the crop.
He sold his own herd of 225 head and switched to custom managing 1,000 grassing yearlings, saying he can earn more from yearlings than cow-calf pairs. They do less damage to pastures and are gone before he has to feed them through the winter, he said.
Bryson, who shared his tips on raising yearlings at the Saskatchewan Pasture School June 19, said he also avoids overgrazing carryover grass and backs off alfalfa due to risks of bloating.
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Dugouts, natural springs, sloughs and watering sites keep cattle from bunching up and fighting over water.
Bryson spends many hours on a horse keeping close tabs on the yearlings grazing in his pastures and hay fields and “sneak roping” them for treatments.
“I can go out there and get these things done because I don’t have to get back to the sprayer,” he said.
“It’s totally taken the pressure off,” said Bryson, who is home every day by 5 p.m.
He prefers the low stress approach to handling livestock.
“I let them settle in an area first then turn them out. A lot of space helps them settle.”
Bryson handles them in a round pen where they go in and up the loading chute and are not caught in corners.
“They never lose sight of one another, they’re all together,” said Bryson.
He tops up and sometimes exceeds his treatment doses for infections like foot rot and pink eye to ensure the infection is caught and cleared up quickly and to avoid doing it twice.
“I err on the side of caution,” he said.
Pat Hayes, who backgrounds about 1,200 yearlings on grass at Val Marie, Sask., and raises organic grain, is another fan of yearlings.
“It gives you the flexibility to have options in your operation,” said Hayes, who takes advantage of what’s offered when it becomes available.
He avoids polled Herefords and Charolais and prefers the crosses. Hayes also does not congregate animals in one site to do health procedures because it can damage the grass.
Hayes likes fall sales when there is good volume and high quality and when more trucks are available.
He told about 50 producers how he buys second cut calves and makes them top quality.
He has found it more accurate to sort calves by scale than by eyeballing them for size.
Spreading manure from his backgrounding operation on his hay lands every five years means he doesn’t have to tear up pasture lands.
“You take what you’ve got and get the most out of it, with the goal of doing it sustainably,” he said.
Hayes has found it pays to spend as much time with the cattle as with the markets.
“I had to train myself to do the p.r. and the paperwork,” he said. “You’ve got to be looking ahead to where you get the most dollars.
“You can spend more time working in your operation than on your operation,” he said of the physical labour required in raising food animals.
He attends conferences to stay positive, network with like-minded individuals and keep abreast of market trends and futures markets. Hayes also makes regular contacts with feedlots and Canfax. Equally important to Hayes is following up with his customers.
“What you send has to be what you described. Keep your face in front of them.”
Hayes looks ahead to a day when people will pay more for food, certain it will come as higher fuel prices make it unfeasible to transport food long distances.
