PHOTOS BY DAVID LOWE Rich Machen, right, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service livestock specialist, chats with CenTex Cow/Calf Clinic participants last Tuesday at the Lampasas County Farm Bureau Building. Machen discussed ways for producers to maximize profits and offset the rising cost of feed and fuel. With input costs rising, ranchers' decisions on everything from the way they feed their herds to what color cattle they auction can affect profits, speakers with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service told area producers at Tuesday's CenTex Cow/Calf Clinic.

The event, held at the Lampasas County Farm Bureau Building, emphasized economic changes in the cow/calf industry, strategies for producers to raise cattle more efficiently and trends in beef marketing.

San Angelo-based Extension economist Bill Thompson noted two major cost increases for cattle producers: fuel and fertilizer prices. The U.S. Department of Energy recently predicted an average diesel cost of $4.27 per gallon during 2009, and Thompson said rapid economic growth in China and India also has led to an increase in the worldwide demand for oil.

Davey Griffin, a Texas A&M University professor and a meat specialist for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, shows slides of beef cuts at the CenTex Cow/Calf Clinic. Griffin discussed marketing techniques, emphasizing the profit potential of value-added cuts, such as skirt steaks and fajita meat. At the same time, because of increased American demand for fertilizer -- Iowa's Extension service recommends using 150 to 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre of corn -- and environmental regulations that make domestic production expensive, American fertilizer imports increased 115 percent between 2000 and 2006. In that same time, fertilizer production in the United States declined 44 percent.

Import costs and the weak dollar have raised fertilizer costs significantly, Thompson said.

Rich Machen, an Extension livestock specialist from Uvalde, said producers' rising costs demand new, more efficient approaches to cow/calf operations than techniques used in the past.

"We're in different times," Machen said. "I think it's imperative that we do things differently."

Machen said producers often respond to increased feed prices by feeding less. Ranchers need to plan carefully, however, as nutrition significantly affects profitability, he said.

In particular, producers must ensure that cows stay healthy enough to calve and to nurse their offspring successfully.

"Percent calf crop wean is the single biggest factor affecting profitability," Machen said.

Cows' ability to reproduce successfully, the specialist said, depends largely on their body scores, measured on a one to nine scale -- with nine the fattest. To keep a cow on a 365-day calving cycle, which requires conception about 100 days after a cow gives birth, a producer must ensure the cow's body score stays between five and six.

Cattle in this range show no ribs and develop some fat on their backs.

Although older cattle still conceive at fairly high rates even with body scores lower than five, young cows' and heifers' likelihood of conception drops to lower than 50 percent if their body scores do not exceed four, Machen said.

"Next year's calf crop is in danger when a young cow with a low body score has a calf," he added.

The specialist recommended feeding all-natural high-protein supplements in the winter to make sure cows receive proper nutrients. A producer can feed cottonseed cake just once a week, Machen said, without jeopardizing either reproductive ability or milk production.

Machen also suggested unrolling a daily supply of hay and putting it in rings, cones or cradles to reduce the amount wasted. Often more than one-third of a bale goes uneaten, he said.

When purchasing hay, Machen added, ranchers should buy the heaviest bale practical to avoid burning diesel on additional trips to pick up hay.

Because of high corn prices, which reached $8 a bushel in recent months, one pound of weight gain at a feed yard now costs $1.08, Machen said. As a result, he recommended weaning calves at an older age and selling heavier calves that spend less time in feedlots than light ones.

Whereas 700-pound calves in 2006 sold for about $11.20 less per hundredweight than 500- pound calves, now heavier calves lose only about $6 per hundredweight, Machen said. Sellers can earn about $122 per hundredweight for 500-pound calves and about $110 for 700-pound calves.

"As an industry, we have shifted toward heavier calves in the feed yard," he said. "Whatever we can do to wean heavier calves, we put more money in our pocket."

Growth-promoting implants, which cost about $2, can increase weaning weight by 10 percent to 15 percent, Machen said. Buyers generally cannot tell if a steer has been implanted, the specialist said.

"Most of them wouldn't discriminate even if they did know," he said.

Machen also suggested vaccinating calves against clostridial parasites -- or "black leg" -- deworming nursing calves in the spring, and castrating all bull calves producers plan to sell.

While input costs for producers have risen, Thompson and Machen said live cattle prices have remained relatively stable because American ranchers, on average, now run fewer cattle than they used to.

"We're probably at the smallest cattle inventory we've been at in 10 to 15 years," Machen said.

The number of cattle in feedlots has decreased 4 percent since last year, Thompson said, with steers down 5 percent and heifers down 3 percent.

Consequently, Machen said ranchers who learn to produce more efficiently still can profit from cow/calf operations.

"The outlook is good for the feeder cattle market," Machen said.