Texas livestock, forage producers focus on profitability
Forage production for livestock in Texas is a necessity and expensive. The annual cost of producing Bermudagrass forage per acre can span $200 to $450 when factoring in land costs, fertilization practices, machinery, expenses and variety grown. The cost of weed control in a pasture or hay meadow typically ranges from $5 to $24 per acre for herbicide alone.
The East Texas Pasture Management Program has helped producers across Central and East Texas learn more about how to produce forages more efficiently and in a cost-effective way to improve overall net profits in their operations. Continuing education units are also offered for Texas licensed pesticide holders.
After attending programming, attendees increased knowledge on pasture management by an average of 85% with a 94% rate of intention to adopt the practice of sprayer calibration. Intentions to adopt reading pesticide labels totaled 86% and intention to adopt the use of soil analysis to make fertilizer decisions was 74.1%.
Participants anticipate a total economic benefit of $18.00 per acre due to knowledge gained from this program. Participants represented an average of 925 acres. Economic impact total was $16,650.00
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension | Project supported by fee-based funding. Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University.
