How’s that, brown cow

Imagine a livestock producer knowing, almost immediately, how much nutrition a calf is getting from the grass it's grazing on - or even how much weight that calf will gain if it keeps eating that same grass.

That may be possible one day, thanks to recent developments with spectral reflectance technology at the Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) Grazinglands Research Laboratory in El Reno, Oklahoma.

The lab recently established a cooperative research and development agreement with two private firms based in Oklahoma for designing, manufacturing and marketing a small, low-cost, hand-held optical remote sensor that can calculate, store and display data on forage's nutrient quality.

Under the agreement, the instrument will be developed by Durant Design and Development in Durant, and will be manufactured and marketed by TerraVerde Technologies in Stillwater.

According to ARS soil scientist Patrick Starks, the nutritional value of live, standing forages in pastures is essential knowledge for livestock producers. It allows them to make informed management decisions about stocking rates, beginning and ending dates for grazing, and the need for supplements.