STREETER, N.D. — A large, longstanding feedlot in North Dakota until recent years was using only a wooden chute for processing cattle, says Lisa Pederson, livestock specialist for NDSU Extension. They were excited to start using a metal head catch.
"One of the things about technology is, technology means something different to every one of us in this room," she said. Coated Wire Mesh Fencing
Such slow adoption to new technologies could be holding producers back, as some technologies can make ranchers' lives easier, Pederson told a crowd at the Central Grasslands Research Extension Center's annual field day on Monday, July 10.
Pederson demonstrated a few of the technologies in use at Central Grasslands REC and that she has used on her own ranch. Pederson and the crew at Central Grasslands showed the smooth operation of a hydraulic chute — while warning about the white noise that comes with the chute's use. Hydraulic chutes reduce physical stress and allow for more efficient and safe handling of animals.
"I think short of, I think, marrying me, my husband would tell you the best thing in his life at our ranch is when we got a hydraulic chute," she said. "I hope I'm a little better than the hydraulic chute, but you know, I might not be some days."
Pederson demonstrated how electronic ID tags can be read with a wand hooked up to a scale head, then updated to include additional information about an animal that can be brought up the next time through the chute, including body scores and average daily gain. Even visual eartags are somewhat new technology, coming out around the 1970s, Pederson said. The EID tags are just an upgrade on those, fitting into ears and providing information about animals. The information contained in the EIDs can help with determining animal health, she said. And some systems even can measure when animals go to eat and drink to determine things like feed efficiency.
Pederson also showed off her own personal pneumatic dosing gun — purchased for her birthday by her family after she complained about how difficult it was to get a pour-on or a drench to squeeze out in the cold northern winters. The gun also can administer vaccines and antibiotics, making dosing precise. Higher end models will pare to scale heads and calculate correct dosage.
"One of the things we know in the livestock business is we tend to either underdose livestock or overdose livestock," she said. "We underdose livestock when things are expensive, and we overdose livestock when we start building up some resistance to products."
Central Grasslands was the first NDSU Extension REC to hold its field days , kicking off a two-week schedule of events throughout North Dakota. The event highlighted new research at the center, including conservation projects on meadowlarks, pollinators and amphibians, a new look at grazing rye cover crops before planting soybeans, and an attempt at determining how to control non-native grass species on pastures.
Pederson's look at processing equipment wasn't the only highlight dealing with livestock equipment. Miranda Meehan , Extension livestock environmental stewardship specialist, and Zac Carlson, Extension beef cattle specialist, demonstrated virtual fencing, which has been in use for just more than a month at Central Grasslands.
Virtual fencing is not necessarily new technology, but several companies are working to make the systems more effective on pasture. In the Vence system that Extension is using, cows wear collars that connect to an invisible barrier. When they get close to the barrier, they hear a beeping sound. When they go beyond the barrier, they get a shock, similar to that from an electric fence.
As Meehan and Carlson explained how the system works, the cows in the pasture showed it in real time. The pasture was clearly eaten down at an invisible barrier, with taller grass on one side and shorter grass on the other. As the cows approached the barrier, a constant "beep ... beep ... beep" could be heard coming from their collars. Meehan explained that the cows went through a training system that taught them that the beeping would be followed by a shock if they went farther.
Carlson said the ease of moving the "fence" was a big advantage for the system.
"You can set your boundaries right wherever you want. So you can move that fence with the click of a button or with the move of a finger, on a phone or on a computer," he said.
The cost of the system Extension is using includes more than $10,000 for setting up a base, along with an annual lease payment on each collar. Other systems use cellular technologies instead of a base. Carlson said whether the system is cost effective will be different for different operations when compared to traditional fencing.
In about a month of use, NDSU Extension has found that the virtual fencing might not be ideal for a perimeter fence but works well as a cross fence for rotational grazing. It also can be used to keep cattle out of an area, such as keeping them away from bacteria-infected water.
"Do we trust it as perimeter fence? Probably not. But it's really a cool tool to be able to manage those animals within a grazing system," Meehan said.
While Carlson and Meehan plan to eventually use the system to graze cover crops — without having to build and move temporary fence in cropping systems — Kevin Sedivec , director at Central Grasslands, said virtual fences also may be of use as a way to do intensive grazing throughout a pasture. Other research already underway at the center is looking at how grazing systems compare to patch burning as a method of restoring native plants, and virtual fence could be another option to consider, he said.
Graduate student Esben Kjaer wants to know more about the mechanisms of invasive grasses — namely Kentucky Bluegrass and smooth brome — including how they might be controlled and what would happen if they are better controlled in areas where they've taken root.
Kjaer is trying numerous things to test how Kentucky Bluegrass responds, including adding nitrogen, adding carbon (in the form of sugar donated by American Crystal Sugar), removing thatch layers and more.
As he explained, Kentucky Bluegrass grows quickly in the spring and leaves behind a thick layer of vegetation that keeps water from reaching the root systems of native plants. The native plants are especially important to grazing later in the season when the Bluegrass has become unappetizing to livestock.
"Kentucky Bluegrass, we know, will use a variety of mechanisms that allow it to increase in abundance and outcompete our native plants," he said.
But Kjaer's experiments aren't just to see how to control the invasive grasses but also to see what happens when they are under control. If they are replaced by something worse — like leafy spurge — Kentucky Bluegrass would be the better option.
Rye has become a popular cover crop to use before planting soybeans, and producers have asked NDSU Extension about the impacts of grazing the rye in the fall, spring or both. But there weren't any well-researched answers to the questions.
Graduate student Josh Wianecki showed Central Grasslands' experiments on the profitability of soybean production through livestock integration. The project is comparing four treatments: grazing in the fall and spring, grazing only in the spring, not grazing the rye and not incorporating rye at all. The objective is to evaluate cash crop productivity, soil health and fertility, livestock performance, and economic impact.
Wire Mesh Fence Soybeans were seeded on June 9, and dry conditions before and immediately after that meant the rye used up a lot of moisture. So far, the treatment with no rye had the tallest soybeans but also the weediest. With a lot of season left to go, the eventual yield remains to be seen. But Sedivec said there already were some cost savings from grazing the rye, which could make up for yield differences when evaluating economic impact.