By James Rogers
If you ever have an opportunity to visit livestock production systems in other parts of the country, take it. It is amazing what you can learn, and you often find out that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence.
In January, I had the opportunity to travel to Florida to attend the American Forage and Grassland Conference in Kissimmee. Before you start thinking about the sunshine and warmth that Florida has to offer through the tourism brochures, I want to tell you: it was cold.
It wasn’t quite the North Dakota cold I left behind, but a humid, wind-blowing cold unusual for Florida. A friend who works for the University of Florida at the Marianna branch station was all bundled up in goose down and said she could never survive north of Interstate 10. I-10 is the southernmost transcontinental interstate in the U.S.
As part of the conference, we received an overview of Florida agriculture. Florida has a long cattle history dating all the way back to 1521, when cattle were brought to Florida by the Spanish conquistadors. There are still descendants of these cattle in Florida known as Florida crackers. This is one of the Criollo breeds which include the Pineywoods, Corriente and Texas Longhorn.
Florida currently has the ninth-largest cowherd in the U.S. with 883,589 head of beef cows. North Dakota has a cow herd of 886,405 head. Due to a lack of feeding facilities, Florida ships around 750,000 feeder calves per year. While the two states are similar in cattle numbers, they are widely apart in people numbers. Florida has 23 million residents compared to North Dakota’s 796,568.
Rainfall is another big difference between the two states. Florida receives 50 to 55 inches per year compared to North Dakota, receiving 13 to 20 inches. With essentially a year-round growing season, they can grow a lot of forage. The main introduced forages in Florida are bahiagrass, limpograss and Bermuda grass all warm-season grasses. You can also find native rangelands in Florida with little bluestem, big bluestem, Indiangrass, sideoats grama and switchgrass, but they will appear much different than what is found in North Dakota. As one of the ranch managers I visited with said, “We can grow a ton of forage it’s just not worth a dang.”
North Dakota is blessed because we may not have the longest growing season, but we can grow quality forage. When supplementation is needed, North Dakota growers have a readily available supply of feedstocks grown within the state. Florida is a grain deficit state, so grain has to be brought into the state, driving up feed costs. One of the main sources of protein supplementation for cattle in Florida is molasses from sugarcane. Citrus pulp has also been used as a feed supplement in Florida, but availability has declined along with their citrus industry.
Another issue is land cost and urbanization. While I was there, a local city council passed an ordinance to restrict building houses on wetlands. While that seems like it should be a non-issue, it does point out the amount of pressure being put on the land resources. Average pasture land value in Florida is over $7,000 per acre, and cropland is over $10,000 per acre quite a bit higher than North Dakota.
Florida citrus is another trademark of Florida agriculture that has changed over the years. Citrus is reported by the number of boxes packed per year. At the height of the industry, Florida packed around 250 million boxes a year. This year, the estimate is around 15 to 20 million. The changes come from disease pressure, freezes, land prices and lack of labor. New citrus groves are being established in the central part of the state in an attempt to revive the citrus industry.
Despite these challenges, Florida agriculture is still a vibrant industry. There are large, well-established cattle operations in the state with long histories. The Seminole Tribe of Florida has been involved with cattle since the Spanish brought them over 500 years ago. The Seminole Tribe has a cow herd of around 10,000 head and has vertically integrated their beef marketing under the Seminole Pride brand.
We also visited a multigenerational dairy that has grown to be a day-trip destination for the surrounding area. They offer ice cream, a playground area for kids and an education to the community on their farming practices.
Florida is a unique state with unique challenges to their agricultural production systems. If you get a chance to tour Florida agriculture, take it; you will learn a lot. The seafood is not bad down there, either.
Source : ndsu.edu