Housing

[chipsahoy]

How would you house to cows? I live in southern nb Canada, so winter is a real thing. There are lots of people around here that leave their cattle out all winter, but they have tractors to move snow and feed them, and I do not have those things. That is why I want to keep them under a roof. They are beef/ dairy cross cows and will raise their calf and maybe an extra one each in the summer.

I can put them in ties, or a big pen with a fenceline feeder on one side, but o don't know how big a pen, or a little free stall to keep them cleaner or a little bedding pack set up. What have you tired? What works? What doesn't? What would you do?

 

[chipsahoy]

https://smallfarmersjournal.com/the-milk-and-human-kindness-plans-for-an-old-style-wooden-stanchion-floor/

I found an article about how they use to build a stanchion barn with wooden platforms and frame and steel stanchions. Maybe I can build something like this if I can find some steel stanchions.

 

[chipsahoy]

Or perhaps a set up like this oxen stall set up might work well for a couple of beef cows.

 

[CG1]

How would you house to cows? I live in southern nb Canada, so winter is a real thing. There are lots of people around here that leave their cattle out all winter, but they have tractors to move snow and feed them, and I do not have those things. That is why I want to keep them under a roof. They are beef/ dairy cross cows and will raise their calf and maybe an extra one each in the summer.

I can put them in ties, or a big pen with a fenceline feeder on one side, but o don't know how big a pen, or a little free stall to keep them cleaner or a little bedding pack set up. What have you tired? What works? What doesn't? What would you do?

I'm from Canada. Personal opinion, if you don't provide shelter to your animals through winter you're savage. And that means a building with 3 sides and a roof that everyone has enough space in to turn around.

 

[CG1]

Or really good treed coverage. That also works

 

[chipsahoy]

I am planning to provide shelter.

 

[greggy]

I know they need a wind break somewhere, but surely not everyone tries to bring them indoors ?

We do not get as cold here, but I think our weather is worse, cause it can be at or below freezing, raining and wet & blowing.....if it was 10 degrees colder all the time for long periods, it would be cold, but dryer....

Anyway, it knocks young lambs around, but they are pretty hardy & I expect cattle to do even better, unless your breeding cattle from the tropics in a cold or temperate env, they should handle it ok if they can get out of bad wind ?

PS OP, I think that is why there are not too many replies, I cannot see how people with hundreds or thousands of cattle could house them all indoor.

 

[chipsahoy]

I guess there aren't any ranches in New brunswick. There are some dairy herds that have 3-400 but they are all housed inside freestall Barns. There are a some beef herds where they have a hundred or so cows one of them that I know of has no barn. Most big herds make their own forage so they have the "outdoor" equipment. For two cows I will be buying forage. Although it costs money to keep cows inside, it is difficult to keep cows out side when you use hand tools. I guess I will figure something out.

 

[aprille218]

A 3 sided shed/ barn with an attached pasture or corral would be good. If you keep the cows in a stall or inside a barn constantly they are more prone to respiratory issues and they can get a little rammy without an area to walk around. As long as you can get them feed and water the snow really isn't an issue if they are acclimated to it.

 

[Ridgefarmer63]

I have a three sided shed, open to the south. They also have a corral off the shed and a small area of pasture which goes up to the prevailing NW wind treeline. They seem happy. I can tell you when it gets cold and windy, they are ALL in the shed. The shed has cement two feet up on all three sides. I wish I had gone three or even four feet up. I let the manure build for quite a while until a wholesale cleaning with the tractor. Just keep adding sawdust along the way. I think a clearspan building /confinement barn would work nice also. The easier it is to clean, the better, IMO.

 

[chipsahoy]

What size run in shed and corral would be needed for two cows? If I have to go that way, I might not be able to keep them at all, but we will see.

 

[cowboy43]

If you house them, what you feed them ( if only sack feed was available) it seems like the cost of feed would be more than the calf would bring. If it was profitable ,, why do not cattlemen dry lot there cows in warm areas.

 

[chipsahoy]

If you house them, what you feed them ( if only sack feed was available) it seems like the cost of feed would be more than the calf would bring. If it was profitable ,, why do not cattlemen dry lot there cows in warm areas.

I would still feed hay and or silage in the winter, it would just be fed in the barn. That way I can roll the bales off the trailer into the barn. It is pretty hard to get round bales into a feeder outside if I don't have a tractor. They would be out to pasture in the summer time.

We don't have winter all year around. The ground might start freezing in Nov, and although we can get some snow and wind and freezing rain in November, lately we haven't had snow much before Christmas. Winter carries through then until April when we have a "mud season" with all the snow melting and rain and run off. Usually Cows go to pasture mid May, Farmers start cutting silage in Mid June, and hay in July. Early pastures kind of start drying up by September, but with rotational grazing or grazing the fresh grass on the hay ground, cows have pasture through the fall.

So it is only the months of December till May that I am concerned about housing. The rest of the time they would be in the pasture.

I guess the best thing to do would be to go visit a local fellow who keeps his cows inside in the winter and see how they do that.

 

[kickinbull]

https://smallfarmersjournal.com/the-milk-and-human-kindness-plans-for-an-old-style-wooden-stanchion-floor/

I found an article about how they use to build a stanchion barn with wooden platforms and frame and steel stanchions. Maybe I can build something like this if I can find some steel stanchions.

many years ago I visited a farm that had oak under the cows. It was nice for the cows. They never had any issues with swollen hocks like winter on concrete. But, the state inspector told them, it has to go. So the cows left.

 

[kickinbull]

I guess there aren't any ranches in New brunswick. There are some dairy herds that have 3-400 but they are all housed inside freestall Barns. There are a some beef herds where they have a hundred or so cows one of them that I know of has no barn. Most big herds make their own forage so they have the "outdoor" equipment. For two cows I will be buying forage. Although it costs money to keep cows inside, it is difficult to keep cows out side when you use hand tools. I guess I will figure something out.

if you're buying feed, it will pay to have them inside in winter

 

[chipsahoy]

There is no reason I can't have the best of both worlds really. They can be is stalls like the oxen I pictured at night and during the storms and I can turn then out into a corral in the day time or at least an hour a day sort of thing for exercise.

 

[Dsth]

I live in Iowa USA and winters can be nasty here also. I really feel sorry for cattle that are outside in bitter cold weather. Larger herds can huddle together to help block the wind and share body heat as a group, but with two cows, that would not work for them. You would need at least a three sided shelter with open side facing South. preferably a four sided shelter with good ventilation to prevent high humidity inside. Keeping them in a tie stall style barn would not be for me since I think cattle are more comfortable when they can move around freely. My advise would be to try and find a suitable farm that custom raises cattle in the winter and bring them back home when the weather warms up. I think that would be more feasible than building a suitable winter housing facility unless you are expanding to a bigger herd later in the future.

 

[chipsahoy]

I live in Iowa USA and winters can be nasty here also. I really feel sorry for cattle that are outside in bitter cold weather. Larger herds can huddle together to help block the wind and share body heat as a group, but with two cows, that would not work for them. You would need at least a three sided shelter with open side facing South. preferably a four sided shelter with good ventilation to prevent high humidity inside. Keeping them in a tie stall style barn would not be for me since I think cattle are more comfortable when they can move around freely. My advise would be to try and find a suitable farm that custom raises cattle in the winter and bring them back home when the weather warms up. I think that would be more feasible than building a suitable winter housing facility unless you are expanding to a bigger herd later in the future.

This might be a very viable idea. There are retired dairy farmers that board heifers, and would probably board beef cattle as well. They charge 2.50 per day including forage. They are tie barns too.

 

[chipsahoy]

Ok, so if winter housing is an issue for large animals, and I can only keep two cows anyway, maybe there is a better way to get my "cattle fix"

I figure each cow is going to cost at least a thousand dollars by first calf. I can't keep the calves through the next winter so would be selling them at 6 months.

Maybe it would make better sense to buy two dairy/beef cross calves in February. They only need small pens, raise them to spring, keep them on grass and grain outside for the summer and sell them in November. They would be 9 month feeders...…..but would have cost 75 dollars and some milk replacer and feed. But I don't have the expense of wintering a cow which I believe would cost at least 75-100 dollars a month.

 

[greggy]

Buy an old british or scottish breed, they really will prob be ok....

Do not buy anything that was bred to take heat....

Ironically we freeze in winter and get pretty hot summers, lot of aus is like that, some places boiling hot in day and lime a desert...cold at night.

Feed them well, they will likey cope, give a wind break for when really nasty conditions combine....