Winter has officially settled in across the Ozarks, causing once green pastures to become dormant and making livestock producers evaluate if their animals are getting the proper nutrition to fight off the cold.
University of Missouri Extension Livestock Specialist Patrick Davis, who is based in Cedar County, Mo., said energy and protein are critical for livestock in winter months.
“We are starting to feed a lot of hay, so having a hay test to determine the nutritional value of that hay and developing a nutritional program around that is pretty important,” he said.
Corn, distiller’s grains, soy hulls and corn gluten are good feed sources for livestock producers to consider when evaluating the nutritional needs of their livestock and help fill the void left by forages.
“It all depends on the need of your livestock, and until you know what your forage nutrition is like, you really don’t know what your need is from a supplementation standpoint,” Davis said. “That is really the key to understanding your nutritional needs; be it stockpiled fescue or hay. A lot of times our stockpiled fescue, if we strip graze it and manage it right, will be better than our fescue hay, but that is dependent on a lot of factors.”
The nutritional requirements of livestock change like the weather conditions.
“Over an extended period of time, nutritional needs change if we are getting a wet snow versus dry snow; and if the animal’s hair coat is wet, that cuts the insulation,” Davis said.
Luckily, the Ozarks does not experience months on end of cold, wet weather in the winter, but even short blasts of winter weather can impact livestock, so planning a head is key.
“We might get a snow today and it might be 50 tomorrow,” Davis said. “Energy requirement are going to increase based on a long period of time, so most farmers are just going to increase the amount of supplement to feed and the percentage, based on what the weather is doing. Those energy requirements will increase with snow and if you have that for an extended period of time, you will want to make some changes, but if you have really cold, wet, snowy conditions for a day, then it’s fine the next day, you may not make that change.”
While the Ozarks might not experience prolonged blasts of winter weather, Davis said producers will see a drop in an animal’s overall condition if there is not adequate nutrition available.
“The cows will pull that condition off their back to meet those requirements, so if you have your cows in good condition going into the winter, then that can help reduce those problems, and we are at that point now,” Davis said, adding that producers should have been preparing their livestock for the winter months several months ago. “Getting those cows in the right condition before winter and you have a few cold days, snowy days, you might not have to make those diet changes because the cow can utilize those energy needs off her back; and those days when it is warmer, she doesn’t have as much of that energy requirement and can put more back on.”
For those producers who follow a grass-fed or grass-finished practices, Davis said the management strategies change from an operation that utilizes grains and other supplements.
“Those producers are really going to need to look at really high-quality forages and high-energy forages,” Davis said. “That will also depend on the type of cattle and how they are being managed. That goes back to bringing those cows into winter in the right condition. Managing those cows is important in those settings to make sure you get the best energy and protein in that forage as possible; the highest quality energy and protein possible. You are going to have to have a management system set up where you know they are going to drop a little condition in the winter.
“You’re told you can’t do things like supplement with certain grains and things, you have to build your management structure differently so that you won’t need those things.”
He added that access to water is a necessity to keep livestock in optimal condition when the thermometer dips.
