Nutritional Management of Beef Stocker Calves in Grazing Systems.

Stocker cattle performance in grazing systems is best understood through the lens of interactions among 3 system constraints: forage availability, forage nutritive value, and animal nutrient requirements. This review provides a framework for interpreting these interactions across common North American forage systems. Emphasis is placed on forage allowance, plant maturity, maintenance energy requirements, composition of gain, and practical supplementation strategies to offset forage nutrient limitations. The goal is to help veterinarians diagnose whether system performance is limited by forage availability, forage nutritive value, or management-driven inefficiencies, and to use that distinction to better align forage resources with cattle biology.