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Grazing wheat versus saving it for grainBy Miles Dabovich Texas AgriLife Extension agent, agriculture, Wichita County I hope everyone who attended the Texoma Farm and Ranch show had a good time and got some information from the show vendors and the educational programs. I was very pleased with the turnout and would like to thank everyone who participated and attended. As we all know the price of wheat has hit the all time highs, recently. I have even heard of some local bids of $10 a bushel. Now with the rains we got last weekend, everybody feels a little better about the outcome but we know we have a long ways to go before the combines get here. And we need moisture and good weather in April and May, in order for it all to come together. Now we have some fields in the county that are being grazed and it is the time of the year when we need to think about pulling them off, if we think we can make a crop. According to Jerri Donnell of the Nobel Foundation this is a year that you really need to think hard about before you graze out. Imagine you are a stocker operator who has cattle grazing a pure stand of wheat. You can continue to graze your 650-pound steers for another 60 days (after the time to defer for grain) at a rate of 2.5 pounds of gain/head/day. Be aware that using the calendar to determine when to pull cattle off wheat is not the appropriate method, nor is it recommended. Also, if you choose to graze out due to an abundance of late-season production (spring flush), you can purchase additional cattle in the spring to increase stocking rates to 1.4 head/acre from normal stocking rates of one head/acre in the fall and winter. With a July 2008 wheat futures price at $8.14/ and if you can produce 31 bushels/acre, does it make more sense to harvest the grain or graze it out? This scenario tells us that harvesting wheat for grain has a financial advantage of $113.54/acre when compared to the graze-out option. As you increase yields to 35 bushels/acre, the advantage for grain jumps to $142.42/acre. However, as yields decrease, graze out becomes more of a viable option. Specifically, when yield is in the neighborhood of 15 bushels/acre and you assume that cattle are gaining 2.5 pounds/head/day and stocked at a rate of 1.4 head/acre, you lose $4.38/acre when harvesting wheat for grain. With these margins and when yield is good, why would anyone graze out wheat with cattle? Reality plays a factor. Infrastructure, including equipment, labor, transportation and/or storage, may not be available to harvest this year's crop. If this is the case in your operation, be aware of the money left on the table when using wheat to graze out stockers, rather than harvesting it for grain. If it is not feasible for you to harvest grain this year, then consider planning ahead by contacting custom harvesters or acquiring resources to make it an option next year. As time passes and it gets closer to the date of first hollow stem, yield projections will be more accurate and, due to volatile markets, prices will have changed. Therefore, it is crucial that you develop a partial budget specific to your operation before pulling cattle off wheat. Put pencil to paper before making any final decisions. 3/3/08 Date: 2/28/08
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