Winter Feeding
Managing cows in a drylot can be a way to maintain the herd when forage production is reduced. However, it’s important to make sure cows are getting the vitamins and minerals they need.
Feeding cows through the winter after a drought season is always challenging. Did you know the mineral content of forages, even if the same hay fields that are always used, is likely different than normal?
Providing bedding is one of the time-tested strategies for dealing with winter weather. But how does bedding affect the bottom-line?
Testing forage and feed for nutrient quality helps ranchers ensure they are meeting nutrient requirements for optimum beef cattle performance.
Who loves winter fencing? Here’s a look at some tips and strategies for working around the challenges winter throws at cattle producers when it comes to the not-so-loved winter task.
Strategies to keep your water sources open and clear to drink to optimize your cattle’s performance during winter.
Breaking ice on water tanks is often a daily or multiple times per day task this time of year. What water systems do you have on your operation to ensure cattle always have water on the coldest days of winter?
The past year has been no walk in the park for producers. As we prepare to close out another year on the calendar, here’s a look back at the top production stories that cow-calf operations found helpful this year.
Cold stress increases a cow’s energy requirement and can pull down her body condition. As winter storms have already swept through cattle country, here’s some tips to help your herd now through spring.
Understanding the amounts of mold and mycotoxins present can help with deciding which classes of cattle to feed and how much silage can safely be included in the diet.
If you do need to purchase hay to fill a forage gap this winter, there are some risks that need to be considered.
Improving hay feeding efficiency represents “low-hanging fruit” in many seedstock and commercial operations. Feeding strategies for large round bales can be separated into use of a hay feeder and rolling bales out.
Pasture and hay supplies are short in many areas. Here’s a list of options and tips for livestock producers to consider for feeding their livestock this winter.
As grazing or forage-based livestock, cattle present a few challenges when it comes to mineral intake. However, here’s several considerations to help you provide the best nutrition to your herd.
Distillers grains offer many nutritional and digestive benefits over corn, including lower starch content, higher total digestible nutrients and higher crude protein content. So, how do the feed sources costs compare?
In developing a protein supplementation strategy, it is important to consider what is the goal of feeding the protein supplement and that not all protein sources are equal.
Estimating forage usage by cows is an important part of the task of calculating winter feed needs. Hay or standing forage intake must be estimated in order to make the calculations.
Heading into the next several winter months, how will you keep your “breeding athletes” prepared for the season to come?
Grazing regrowth on irrigated alfalfa fields is likely in fall grazing plans for many producers. However, alfalfa has several challenges to grazing from animal and plant health perspective.
Having corn stalks to graze is a great resource for livestock producers, as a relatively inexpensive feed and helping get rid of corn remaining in the field. But are cattle really grazing stalks?
Baled forage probably constitutes the highest percentage of winter feed cost we have wrapped up in a cow. Here’s how to best protect the asset from the elements.
Considering grazing cornstalks this winter to help ease feed needs? Here’s some things to consider before turning cattle out in the field.
There is often fear associated with grazing alfalfa due to bloat potential or hurting the alfalfa stand. However, with proper management, fall and winter grazing may be an option to harvest quality feed.
On his west-central Missouri farm, Kyle Grumke and his father Ross employ cover crops on every one of their 550 owned acres
Nutritional management of fall-calving cows is a little different than spring-calving herds throughout the production cycle. Here’s some things to consider.
The U.S. hay supply is at a 50-year low. Couple this with rising costs and it becomes prudent to plan fall, winter and next spring’s hay needs sooner rather than later.
Testing the quality of your harvested hay is important as hay quality is variable depending on the type of forage, soil type, fertilizer rate, and the maturity of the forage when it was hayed.
Wheat and other small grain pastures have been short, but as growing conditions improve, forage growth comes on rapidly. Rapidly growing small grain forage can lead to bloat of grazing cattle.
Cows/heifers are faced with nutritional and environmental stressors. Knowing the stress periods that cause nutrient deficiencies is where you must help the herd meet these nutritional challenges.
Preparing for breeding season begins long before bulls are turned out. Evaluate bred heifers, cows, and bulls for Body Condition Score (BCS) to ensure your herd breeds back successfully.