Beef Cattle Performance on Crested Wheatgrass plus Native Range vs. Native Range Alone

Abstract

Cattle gains and conception rates in 1974-1977 on crested wheatgrass pasture in spring and fall and native range in summer (CW-NR system) were compared with performance on native range throughout the grazing season (NR system). The CW-NR and NR systems were stocked at 0.20 and 0.10 AU/ha, respectively. Conception rates on CW-NR and NR were 84% and 86%, respectively, excluding results from 1975 when there were problems with heat detection; this difference was not significant. Cow, heifer, and calf gains (average of 0.30, 0.41, and 0.82 kg/day, respectively) and calf weaning weights (average of 196 kg) did not differ significantly between systems. Because of the higher carrying capacity of CW-NR, calf production averaged 24.8 kg/ha vs. 13.0 kg/ha on NR. Other advantages of the CW-NR system included reduced labor for heat checking and for gathering cows for breeding.