By Connor Biehler
As we sit atop the highest cattle market ever experienced and record low inventories to keep driving the price of feeder cattle, many producers, especially those with row crop and livestock enterprises, are understandably feeling pressure from production costs. When margins are tight, it can be worth re-evaluating how land resources are used. One option worth considering is planting summer annual forages in place of traditional row crops.
In eastern and central Nebraska, it is common to see cropland fields with perimeter barbed wire fences. These acres were once pasture and were converted to row crop production, likely during recent corn market booms. Now the pendulum has swung toward strong cattle prices and tighter margins in grain production. Converting some acres back to forage production, especially where fencing already exists or can be added at relatively low cost, could offer an opportunity to improve whole farm profitability.
Corn and soybean production carries substantial upfront input costs, including seed, fertilizer, herbicides, fuel, and machinery ownership. While expenses vary by operation and year, seed, fertilizer, pesticides, and machinery costs for corn and soybean generally run around ~$350/acre. Summer annual forages such as sorghum–sudangrass, sudangrass, forage sorghum, and pearl millet typically have lower seed costs, significantly lower nitrogen needs than corn, and lower machinery costs, totaling ~$100/acre. In many cases, total establishment costs are a fraction of full season‑ row crop inputs.
From an income perspective, summer annuals can be evaluated based on animal days per acre or value of hay/silage. Well managed summer annual pastures regularly produce 300 animal grazing days per acre, depending on precipitation, fertility, and management. When valued against the cost of alternative feed resources or perennial pasture, these forages can be competitive with row crops on a net return basis. Especially when paired with current cattle markets.
Source : unl.edu