Focusing on foraging: Area cattle producers learn grazing, nutrition tips at Cattle Short Course Workshop in Clifton
Continuing to learn gives people of all skill levels a fair chance to adapt and compete in a world that is constantly changing.
The Clifton Feed & Service Center brought over 20 local cattle producers together May 15 for a Cattle Short Course Workshop at the Home Economics Building on the Clifton Fair Grounds, offering practical ranching advice at a time when beef prices and pressures on the cattle industry continue to rise nationwide.
The workshop featured presentations from ranch manager and grazing specialist Chris Farley, Purina representative Madison Strief and Clifton Feed & Service Center co-owner Steve Conrad. Throughout the two-hour afternoon session, the speakers shared reliable information that helps neighboring producers succeed, strengthening both ranching operations and rural communities.
The event comes as cattle producers face mounting challenges from aging ranch populations, years of drought across Texas and the Midwest and wildfire losses that have reduced herd sizes nationwide. At the same time, beef prices have climbed sharply.
According to new federal data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price of ground beef in the United States has reached a record $6.90 per pound, while non-seasonally adjusted prices surpassed $7 per pound for the first time in history. Ground beef prices have risen 77 percent since January 2020, when prices averaged $3.89 per pound. Meanwhile, uncooked beef steaks now average a record $13.02 per pound, up 70 percent since January 2020.
Against that backdrop, workshop speakers focused on helping producers improve forage quality, grazing efficiency and cattle nutrition in order to remain profitable while preserving their land for future generations. Farley, who formerly taught at the Texas Christian University Ranch Management Program, spent much of his presentation discussing the importance of rotational grazing and understanding native grasses.
“As your cows go through there, they’re going to select what they want in a more desirable grass first to a least desirable,” Farley told attendees while comparing high-desirable grasses to “banana pudding” and low-desirable grasses to “lettuce.”
Farley encouraged producers to become more familiar with the grasses growing on their own land and to view healthy pastures as diverse ecosystems rather than simple monocultures.
“God has a purpose for every one of those plants,” Farley said.
Using comparisons to a buffet meal, Farley explained how cattle performance can often be monitored through grazing patterns and even manure consistency.
“When [manure] looks like a pecan pie, your cow is getting all of [the nutrients] and the banana pudding that it needs,” Farley said while describing ideal forage digestion.
Farley said his larger goal was helping ranchers improve both forage production and profitability.
“My goal for you is two things: to have more grass at the end of the year, and you wean more pounds of meat,” Farley said.
Farley also highlighted the advantages of rotational grazing systems, which train cattle to move efficiently between pastures.
“When you start a rotation and you put cattle into a rotation, and you train them that the next time you open that gate, it’s going to go into a newer pasture, they’ll meet you at the gate,” Farley said.
Strief, who works with cattle operations across North Texas, focused on mineral supplementation and seasonal nutrition programs.
“It’s a good time to be in the cow business,” Strief said, acknowledging the current unique state of cattle markets.
Strief emphasized that producers must take advantage of the limited spring growing season when forage quality is highest.
“How can we capitalize on those two months to help our cattle?” Strief asked while discussing forage growth before and after the mid-April through mid-June grass growing season.
Strief said mineral supplementation remains one of the most affordable investments producers can make in herd health and reproduction.
“To feed one cow mineral for the whole year, 365 days, it’s about $60,” Strief said. “I think we’re making that profit back at the sale barn.”
Conrad tied the workshop themes together by emphasizing that even the best forage systems still require nutritional balance throughout the year.
“Ninety percent of the year forages don’t have everything in it that the cattle need,” Conrad said, adding, “Grass is going to be deficient in mineral environment. That’s a proven thing.”
Conrad explained that supplements can help producers maintain cattle performance during periods when pasture quality declines.
“If you can’t rotate or don’t want to, that’s when our supplement programs come into play,” Conrad said.
“There’s not a right or wrong answer, it’s what fits you, what you’re trying to do,” Conrad said, emphasizing flexibility and practicality for individual ranch operations.
Throughout the workshop, it was clear that local knowledge-sharing and cooperation can help cattle producers survive difficult conditions while strengthening the region’s food supply and rural economy for the future.
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