WINTER 2022

It’s a question we are asked regularly: “How much should I be feeding my cows?” It is a valid question with meaningful tradeoffs – on one hand, we want to minimize the largest variable cost in a cow-calf business, while on the other, we yearn for maximum reproductive efficiency. The truth is: finding yourself on either side of this delicate balance can have profound impacts on financial performance. Our goal for this article is to describe our approach in building optimal supplementation strategies for commercial cow herds.