FORAGES: As we transition into spring, quantity and quality of cool season forages will start to decline as they mature and warm season forages start to
grow.

By now, all cattlemen have entered into “fall mode.” For cow/calf producers, weaning, preg checking, and culling open cows are on the docket. Stocker
producers are receiving new-crop cattle which will be straightened out for wheat, dry-wintered for summer forage, or prepared for direct entry to a feedyard. Depending on the goals, logistics, and class of cattle your operation runs, you may do more or less than the discussion of this article. The take home: “There is no cookie cutter processing protocol; one size does not fit all when it comes to stocker operations.”

Forage quality of native range in Oklahoma and the Southern Great Plains declines during the mid to late summer. Research conducted by Dagan Montgomery, a graduate student in the OSU Department of Animal and Food Sciences shows the dramatic decline in the protein and...