Winter Feeding

[Coosh71]

I know everyone here has there own way or tweak on feeding during the winter months. So e due to geography, others because... Well... That's just how granddad did it lol. Total non opinionated post, just curious with this cold shot of air that plunges into the country from time to time if it changes how you feed your cattle? Also does it matter if they are still bred or raising a calf? We, as a rule of thumb feed cake daily when temps are below 32 degrees F. Today's temps here in Texas Panhandle was mid 20s. It was a non feed day, but we still fed a full ration to cows with 400# calves, and with cows actively calving now. Just interested in what everyone else does. Thanks!

 

[jehosofat]

I feed mine every other day in hard winter, every 3rd day or so in late fall and early spring, but when it is really cold I feed em every day.

 

[Coosh71]

I feed mine every other day in hard winter, every 3rd day or so in late fall and early spring, but when it is really cold I feed em every day.

When do you start feeding in the fall and when do you stop? Is there a date or is it 100% weather related?

 

[jehosofat]

Weather related. Based on how much grass I have left.

 

[Midtenn]

Hay only regardless of weather. We only feed grain once or twice a week to keep them catchable. The only effect the weather has on our hay feeding is that we have to do it more often if rainy or cold. Always keeping hay in front of them except on stockpiled pastures. Never let them run out.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Our cattle are 100% dependent on hay in winter - absolutely no grazing anywhere. They are put on "sacrifice" areas. Normally feed hay every other day. If temps are going to be really extreme, we may "load up" the hay to prevent starting tractor on abnormally cold days. Generally, about every 3 or 4 feedings, I let them run out, so they clean up and don't waste as much. This time of year, we have 5-6 groups to feed. Two groups "share" a feed pad - hay rings divide the groups. Basically, no "cows" get grain. An exception is our 2-3 yr old group nursing calves. We are getting ready to start AI'ing in 3 weeks, so that group will start getting about 1-2#/head wsc. They are nursing 2 month old calves and want to get them cycling good, but mostly because they are in about 4 acre paddock so makes catching easier. Replacement heifers get wsc - about 5#/head

 

[Coosh71]

Our cattle are 100% dependent on hay in winter - absolutely no grazing anywhere. They are put on "sacrifice" areas. Normally feed hay every other day. If temps are going to be really extreme, we may "load up" the hay to prevent starting tractor on abnormally cold days. Generally, about every 3 or 4 feedings, I let them run out, so they clean up and don't waste as much. This time of year, we have 5-6 groups to feed. Two groups "share" a feed pad - hay rings divide the groups. Basically, no "cows" get grain. An exception is our 2-3 yr old group nursing calves. We are getting ready to start AI'ing in 3 weeks, so that group will start getting about 1-2#/head wsc. They are nursing 2 month old calves and want to get them cycling good, but mostly because they are in about 4 acre paddock so makes catching easier. Replacement heifers get wsc - about 5#/head

What is the protein content of your hay? In our area the minimal protein per feeding of cake is 20% @ 5#/hd every other day plus grazing if available or hay at around 8%.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

LOL - you won't like to hear this - mine runs 15-16% protein - baleage - 1st & 2nd cutting.
Definitely contributes to high BW calves.

 

[1982vett]

Pretty much just make sure they aren't hungry when bad weather hits.

I've greened up and cows pretty much have quit the hay. With the forecast dropping to the 20s and me being out of town till Sunday night I put out hay Thursday afternoon before I left town. Still had hay in the rings yesterday when I checked. I suspect that was the last feeding for this winter.

 

[Rydero]

We feed hay all winter up here. Bales are placed in 3 areas once a week in 2-3 day increments. Cows are given just enough so they'll clean up the residue ahead of a move. Generally most of the hay exceeds what the cows need for protein so any sub par or last years hay gets blended in over the first half of winter. Really cold weather or high winds means more high quality hay and moving into more sheltered areas. This year with drought conditions some of the hay is sitting a little low on protein (7-8%) so we tried to feed most of that in the first 2 trimesters and save the higher protein stuff for calving/lactating. Since consumption was low we kept protein licks out all winter so they could utilize the poorer hay better. Around the time it got really cold (-40) started noticing some low ranking cows losing condition. If we put out 8 bales maybe 2 would be higher quality so we started rolling out the 2 good ones so everyone gets a shot at it.

Since we feed for such a long stretch every winter it's important to control costs and make the most of the feed we have. There's a plan in place before we start to feed for the winter but it's adapted to the winter conditions also the cows body condition and stage of pregnancy.

 

[Dave]

All the cows in this neighborhood get hay daily. Every morning starting about 8:00 you will see flatbeds and tractors hauling hay out to the cows. Some of it is grass hay and some alfalfa. A few guys use round bales (home grown grass) but it is mostly the 3x4 square bales. There are 80 fall pairs and 20 spring calving cows in my field. They get 3 bales of the 3x4 a day. I don't believe anyone feeds grain of any sort to the cows.

 

[CreekAngus]

I feed late afternoon, normal feedings are local grass hay 3x3x4 squares that get rationed, never feed a full bale at a time. When a cold front is coming in, then I dump a round bale (local, 1000lbs) that takes care of them for five days and supplement with some alfalfa. In our part of the country, grass hay only has 7-8% protein to it and has very limited nutritional value. The big squares I get test higher at 12%, because he's a real hay grower. We are 200 miles from some of the best alfalfa hay in country and it's not difficult to get some to supplement with. Out here in the Pacific NW we are very dependent upon hay, almost year round, unless you have irrigation.

 

[True Grit Farms]

We feed free choice hay, and supplement with corn - wcs feed according to what the cow crap looks like.

 

[lithuanian farmer]

Feeding hay when it's cold and baleage when it's warmer and it's not frozen. Two groups of cows, fed every second day, sometimes they don't need it for one more day. One group, ~30-35cows +calves, get 4-6bales. Another group, 15cows+calves, get 2-4bales. No creep. Feed made from naturally growing grass. They seem to do pretty well. Not getting fat, but not starving either, dry cows are putting on weight. Can feed calves too.
In calf heifers went on hay now, plus some creep to improve their colostrum and milk production. The first ones due in max three weeks. They are in a good condition, but not too fat.

 

[snoopdog]

We feed every other day to keep travel cost down. If they were here on the home place, every day smaller amount. We do feed up in anticipation of a cold spell,and feed cake in the bitter. Would probably not feed the cake to dry cows, our last hay samples ran about 12% I think, but we did bale some sorry stuff and will supplement cake or tubs as we feed it also, keep your eyes open. We generally will feed a little after greenup to tighten the gut.

 

[elkwc]

We feed cake every 3rd day about 2.5-3.0 lb per head. We put out 1round bale of hay(1,300-1,500 lbs) evey 3rd day also unless previous bale isn't cleaned up. We keep protien tubs out. When high temps go below freezing with wind we feed cake every day and feed better hay. Our grass hay is basically a filler. Most of our pastures have plenty of old grass so they graze it more when the weather is better.

 

[Silver]

We feed every second day during the winter pre calving. Hay unrolled on the ground, silage bales left standing on their butts. No supplements. We haven't sorted off the first and second calvers for a few years so find this allows even the young cows to not to have to compete and everyone gets filled up. We have also noticed that we feed 10 percent less doing this. We do feed enough that everything is just barely cleaned up to just little still left by next feeding.