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ARS Home » Plains Area » El Reno, Oklahoma » Oklahoma and Central Plains Agricultural Research Center » Livestock, Forage and Pasture Management Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #430058
Research Project: Integrated Research to Enhance Forage and Food Production from Southern Great Plains Agroecosystems

Location: Livestock, Forage and Pasture Management Research Unit

Title: Using supplementation and growth promoting management strategies for intensification of stocker steer production on rangelands in the Southern Great Plains

Author
item GRIGSBY, ZANE - Oklahoma State University
item Gunter, Stacey
item LALMAN, DAVID - Oklahoma State University
item NEW, MARTY - Oklahoma State University
item WORTHINGTON, CHARLES - Oklahoma State University
item GOODMAN, LAURA - Oklahoma State University
item BECK, PAUL - Oklahoma State University
item Moffet, Corey

Submitted to: Applied Animal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/26/2026
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Stocker steers grazing native rangeland pastures at two sites in western Oklahoma were supplemented with increasing levels of dried distillers’ grains cubes. Steer weight gains rose with higher supplementation rates, though the efficiency of gain declined as supplement amounts increased. At both Bessie and Fort Supply, cattle stocked at higher rates and receiving greater supplementation achieved higher early-season and overall average daily gains. In contrast, late-season supplementation produced similar average daily gains under both normal and high stocking rates. While increased stocking rate combined with continuous supplementation enhanced body weight gain per hectare, supplementation had no measurable effect on standing forage biomass. These findings indicate that extruded dried distillers grain cubes are a practical supplement for intensifying stocker calf production on native rangeland.

Technical Abstract: The aim of this research was to test the effects of supplementing dried distillers’ grains cubes and stocking rate on stocker calf production while grazing native range. Two 2-year trials were conducted at the Marvin Klemme Range Research Station (Klemme) and USDA-ARS Southern Plains Experimental Range (SPER). Each year, at Klemme, steers (n = 140/yr; body weight = 239 ± 21 kg) were allocated to 6 pastures with 2 treatments: Positive Control (PC) - 1.13 kg dried distillers' grains (DDG) cubes/day prorated for alternate day feeding during late summer stocked at 2.4 ha/steer; and High Supplement (HS) - supplemented at a daily rate of 0.75% of BW all summer with a 33% increase in stocking (1.6 ha/steer). At SPER, steers (n = 125/yr; body weight = 225 ± 23) were allocated to 12 pastures with 3 supplementation treatments: Negative Control (NC) – no supplement stocked at 2.0 ha/steer, PC - 0.91 kg/d DDG cubes prorated for feeding 3-day/wk during the late summer stocked at 2.0 ha/steer, and HS stocked at 1.4 ha/steer. Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED in SAS 9.4 (SAS Inst. Inc; Cary, NC.) with treated as a random block. Significance was determined at P = 0.05. Increased supplementation for HS yielded greater (P < 0.0001) early and overall average daily gain at both locations. Late season average daily gain did not differ (P = 0.47) between PC and HS. Increased stocking and continuous supplementation increased (P = 0.0001) body weight gain/ha. There was no effect of supplementation treatment on forage biomass. These data suggest that extruded DDGS cube as a supplement for steers grazing native range is a viable strategy for intensification of stocker calf production.