Despite pastures of dense grass and forages that may look ready from a distance, those spring and early summer plants are not quite ready to support bred cattle, especially heifers with high nutrient needs.

Ron Lemenager, professor of animal sciences and Extension beef specialist at Purdue University, advised cattle producers to either keep heifers off pasture until the grass hardens off later in the season, continuing to feed their winter diet to support early pregnancy, or to supplement energy to replacement heifers during early turnout.

He recommends feeding soybean hulls because they don’t drop the pH levels in the rumen, and the “magic number” for soybean hulls is about 5 pounds per day. But don’t overfeed on soybean hulls as they can expand by about seven or eight times their size in rumen liquid and can cause bloat when supplementation reaches 1% of body weight.

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