Supplementation Strategies for Beef Cattle

cattle—as concentrated feeds, harvested forages, or a complementary grazing program— accounts for a significant portion of annual production costs in a cattle operation. To optimize productivity of today’s cattle operations, some supplemental nutrients will be required at critical periods during the annual production cycle. However, producers need to avoid unnecessarily compounding this cost by feeding too much, too little, or using range and pasture forages inefficiently. A producer should provide supplemental nutrients with minimal feed inputs. A primary objective is to use forage efficiently.