LEWISBURG, Tenn. — A drastic upswing in feed grain prices nationwide, as well as drought in some regions, forced U.S. beef farmers to scale back their herds in recent years. With this year’s lower prices for corn, soybeans and wheat, and other market signals inviting beef back to the dinner table, those producers are looking to build up depleted herds again.

Trouble is, when it comes to rebuilding stocks, cattle take awhile. And “the most economically straining aspect of beef management” is the development of replacement heifers, according to University of Tennessee cattle expert Kevin Thompson, director of the Middle Tennessee and Dairy AgResearch and Education centers. He explained beef heifers require precious time and resources to get to the reproductive stage.

In Tennessee, farm sizes make it difficult for the average beef producer to house and raise young heifers because ideally they should be kept separate and each fed according to her own nutritional program, he said. These animals take up land many beef farmers feel is better allocated to already-productive cattle.

Officials in the Volunteer State are working to solve this problem through a new public-private partnership among the UT Institute of Agriculture, Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) and Tennessee Farmers Cooperative (TFC). As part of the Tennessee Beef Heifer Development Program, UT is making room at its Dairy AgResearch and Education Center in Lewisburg for 100 beef heifers consigned by farmers from across the state.

Thompson said the farmers will pay for their heifers’ care and housing to be raised to a productive point (they need to be at least two years old to calve). While housed there, these cows-in-training will also serve as part of the occasional training/viewing facility for farmers who want to learn more about raising replacement heifers on their own land – such as row crop or dairy producers looking to diversity their operations.

“This facility has been here for many, many years,” he said of the dairy research area. Not all of the 615 acres are being used, so a portion can be dedicated to beef research. The effort is partly “to make us more relevant to a different industry, the beef cattle industry” too.

With support through a $243,000 Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program (TAEP) grant from the TDA and an in-kind contribution from TFC totaling more than $125,000 in supplies, equipment and other services over a five-year period, UT will construct and upgrade facilities to accommodate the 100 privately owned beef heifers consigned for intensive management.

After a certain amount of time at the UT AgResearch center, the heifers will be returned to their consignors or offered in a bred heifer replacement sale. UT extension has also been involved in the program development and will continue to have a leadership role.

Appealing to even more

A third potential audience for the Lewisburg pilot program is cattle producers (beef or dairy) who would have space and facilities on their own farms to host the contract raising and management of replacement heifers.

Justin Rhinehart, who is co-leader with Thompson of the Beef Heifer Development Program and a UT assistant professor of animal science, explained this is a way for those producers to pick up extra income and be additional locations for beef farmers to purchase heifer management service.

In the last two years, UT stated, Tennessee has dropped from ninth in beef cattle production to 13th place nationally because of herd reductions. Rhinehart said in the last five years, the state’s herd has dropped 12 percent; the state has about 864,000 head right now.

He and Thompson both said in addition to feed prices and drought, a third factor that has contributed to herd reduction in Tennessee is the increasing average age of cattle producers. “I think we’re as low (on inventory) now as we’ve been since the (19)60s,” Thompson said.

As the cost of getting into cattle farming – any farming – is one deterrent to young and new farmers, something that encourages on-farm diversification and facilities-sharing could be attractive to that demographic. 

“I think a program like this – it’s a new twist on things, especially here in the Southeast – might attract some of those younger people back again,” he added.

The Beef Heifer Development Program is consistent with the recommendations of the Governor’s Rural Challenge. Issued in December 2012, this sets a goal of making Tennessee first in the Southeast in the development of agriculture and forestry, emphasizing efforts to increase farm income and agribusiness investment.

With beef producers located in every county in the state, enhancing beef cattle production is a natural priority, said Agriculture Commissioner Julius Johnson. “Tennessee has the land capacity to support beef herd expansion and to recapture our share of the U.S. market,” he said. “This project … gives producers another tool with which to improve their operation and to maximize profits.” 

According to UT, it is working to identify select producers willing to consign heifers to the pilot project. Construction of required facilities is beginning, and the first shipment of heifers should arrive in October. Rhinehart said in future years, producers should be able to apply for the program.

To learn more in 2015 about field and demonstration days at Lewisburg, or about the program itself, contact Rhinehart at 615-835-4561 or jrhinehart@utk. edu or Thompson at 931-486-2129 or kthomp44@tennessee.edu