Cattle Housing

[skyhightree1]

This is a feed off question from the tragedy of the livestock loss out west. My grandmother was listening to the news and asked me if I had thought about building an place to stick cattle in case of bad storms or extreme temperatures to help aide them. I just read in a post ALACOWMAN about the storm he had went through he put his cattle in a barn. My question is does anyone out there have such facilities to do so? Would it be a good idea to build an emergency shelter? If you did build a shelter would it be similar to a horse run in shelter or an actual enclosed facility ?

 

[skyhightree1]

I only have enough to keep maybe 5 cows and calf pairs inside thats all.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I expect our cows would head for the woods for cover in a big snow storm like that. Yours probably would too.



For what it's worth to you Sky, I don't think of Barry all day. I do, however, worry a lot about our country and how destructive his idiotic policies are.

 

[skyhightree1]

I expect our cows would head for the woods for cover in a big snow storm like that. Yours probably would too.



For what it's worth to you Sky, I don't think of Barry all day. I do, however, worry a lot about our country and how destructive his idiotic policies are.

Some of my places do not have alot of wooded areas which sucks...

I will reply back to the 2nd portion of your response.. but I don't want to open up another political debate and stray away from my subject of the post.

TT I understand but what most people forget is alot of the mess we are in today was caused by both parties destructive policies that were started YEARS ago before 2008. It's human nature to blame someone but the blame lies on both parties. While I do not like alot of his policies and stuff he is trying to do I am realistic and not closed minded that he causes and has caused all bad that the U.S. is dealing with.

 

[Bigfoot]

I'm not a world traveler. I've never been through that country. I'm not sure what the terrain looks like, or the climate for that matter. We have never had a storm like that here in my lifetime. That is not to say that it couldn't happen. I would also assume that my cows would head for a cedar thicket, and be all right. I do try to keep some "emergency" square bales on hand. I don't have snow in mind, just the tractor not starting or something. I have barn space for several head. Getting them in the barn, might prove impossible.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I expect our cows would head for the woods for cover in a big snow storm like that. Yours probably would too.



For what it's worth to you Sky, I don't think of Barry all day. I do, however, worry a lot about our country and how destructive his idiotic policies are.

Some of my places do not have alot of wooded areas which sucks...

I will reply back to the 2nd portion of your response.. but I don't want to open up another political debate and stray away from my subject of the post.

TT I understand but what most people forget is alot of the mess we are in today was caused by both parties destructive policies that were started YEARS ago before 2008. It's human nature to blame someone but the blame lies on both parties. While I do not like alot of his policies and stuff he is trying to do I am realistic and not closed minded that he causes and has caused all bad that the U.S. is dealing with.

2 words: Keystone Pipeline

 

[ALACOWMAN]

id least want a wind break of some type.... thats about all they really need....but when you got cattle with slick hide for the tropics i wasnt gonna take a chance on them toughin' it out when i had the place for em... being poor will kinda make you over protective of what you have :cowboy:

 

[skyhightree1]

Gotcha I could do a windbreak in a few locations.

 

[TexasBred]

WE don't have severely cold winters here so I don't worry about it. Sometimes it will get down into single digits but it doesn't last long. Have got a few small wooded areas they can go into and get out of wind, rain or whatever.

 

[dun]

When a howler came through ours used to head for the brush, creek beds, canyons or rock outcroppings depending on what was available in that part of the range they were on.

 

[john250]

Here in the East, my strategy was "pour on the feed" with good quality hay when something like this happened. Actually, nothing like that ever happened. I sheltered them in the light woods. Heavy rain followed by a cold front is probably the worst that happens here. Cattle are soaked and the temp drops 30 overnite with huge windchill. Feed something with calories (like Alfalfa) and they pull through.
My way isn't the only way. Just what worked for me.

 

[TexasBred]

Here in the East, my strategy was "pour on the feed" with good quality hay when something like this happened. Actually, nothing like that ever happened. I sheltered them in the light woods. Heavy rain followed by a cold front is probably the worst that happens here. Cattle are soaked and the temp drops 30 overnite with huge windchill. Feed something with calories (like Alfalfa) and they pull through.
My way isn't the only way. Just what worked for me.

A full belly of anything being digested certainly helps.

 

[Stocker Steve]

My grandmother was listening to the news and asked me if I had thought about building an place to stick cattle in case of bad storms or extreme temperatures to help aide them. I just read in a post ALACOWMAN about the storm he had went through he put his cattle in a barn. My question is does anyone out there have such facilities to do so? Would it be a good idea to build an emergency shelter?

Natural shelters like coulees work almost all the time in the west. Then you get a couple day blizzard and can loose most of the herd because the coulee killed in with 50' of snow.

 

[millstreaminn]

Here in northern Pennsylvania, most of the farms have some type of run in barn for the cattle in the winter. It gets as cold as anywhere in the country here. This is a shot of my run in barn that I am currently remodeling. It will have tin on all sides, and the three doors to the right will have roll up curtains on them.



An interior shot before all the concrete work and headlocks are done. It's 40' by 70' and will hold way more cattle than I would ever want. I usually winter 12-15 cows. They are fed inside but have access to about 2 acres to go out in the winter if they want. They usually only walk from the barn to the creek once a day, then it's back inside.

 

[Limomike]

millstream, thats a good lookin building for your cattle during bad weather. Around my place when the northern wind comes a blowin my cattle seem to be smart enough to get on the southern slope of hill to shield them from the cold wind. When it gets really bad I got two 30'x70' pole sheds for most of them to get in. they dont all get in it, but just standing around together helps keep them warm.

 

[A.Lane]

Here in South Dakota it's almost impossible to get 150-1000 head of pairs into a barn and if you could they would trample calves or each other. I'm sure smaller herds you could. We do have a lot of windbreaks but sometimes they will blow out of the windbreaks and started heading out. Especially the ones on the lower end of the pecking order. We also have a lot of beaks and draws for protections but then they will tend to get blown over and smother. I guess we just do the best we can and try to see around corners for the next 100 year blizzard that could happen tomorrow.....More rain and snow expected to start tonight.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Here in South Dakota it's almost impossible to get 150-1000 head of pairs into a barn and if you could they would trample calves or each other. I'm sure smaller herds you could. We do have a lot of windbreaks but sometimes they will blow out of the windbreaks and started heading out. Especially the ones on the lower end of the pecking order. We also have a lot of beaks and draws for protections but then they will tend to get blown over and smother. I guess we just do the best we can and try to see around corners for the next 100 year blizzard that could happen tomorrow.....More rain and snow expected to start tonight.

i can imagine...

 

[skyhightree1]

millstreaminn thank you for taking the time to share pictures of your nice facility.
Limo that sounds like a nice set up you have there too.

I wish I had either of those set ups.

 

[greybeard]

Got nothing here except a small loafing shed and woods on the North side and that's where they head if a really cold (to us) norther blows thru. Been a few years since we've seen single digits for more than a couple hrs tho, so it's not really a problem for me and back then, this whole place was wooded.
I've read of lots of people in colder areas that use their roundbale stacks for windbreaks.

 

[millstreaminn]

millstreaminn thank you for taking the time to share pictures of your nice facility.
Limo that sounds like a nice set up you have there too.

I wish I had either of those set ups.

Thank you. I'll post a thread when it is all done. It was exactly what I wanted when I built it 20 years ago. Now, with a major facelift, it is exactly-exactly what I want... ;-)