Economics of no-tilling winter cereal pasture for growing beef cattle in Oklahoma

Grazing winter cereal pasture with stocker cattle is a common production practice on water-limited cropland acres in the southern Great Plains. Soil erosion and loss of soil water holding capacity from interactions with tillage operations, wind, and rainfall are common problems with these systems. Despite the environmental and economic benefits reported for no-till (NT) techniques, clean-till (CT) establishment remains a common practice in the region. The objectives were to determine the effects of tillage system (CT and NT) on measures of animal performance and net returns, and to determine the sensitivity of net returns to the prices of glyphosate, labor, and fuel. Data representing average daily gain (ADG), steer grazing days (SGD) (ha(-1)), and total gain (TG) (ha(-1)) were obtained from a 4-year (2010-2013) grazing trial conducted in south-central Oklahoma. Enterprise budgeting was used to determine average revenues, costs, and net returns for each establishment system. Mixed model regression results indicated that SGD ha(-1) was 11.1 greater (p < 0.0001) for CT compared to NT but ADG was 0.025 kg day(-1) greater (p < 0.0001) for the NT system. The CT system realized a TG of 6.63 kg ha(-1) greater (p < 0.0001) than NT. Conversely, the NT system realized a total cost of US$1067.27 ha(-1), which was $105.29 ha(-1) lower than the cost of the CT system. On average, the NT system realized a $67.63 ha(-1) greater net return than CT. The NT system remained the most profitable even with substantial changes in prices of glyphosate, machinery labor, and fuel.