Keeping Cattle/Chickens all year in Cold Climates

[angus]

I am curious regarding what some of the challenges are with respect to keeping livestock year round in very cold climates. I am especially interested in hearing from folks who live in upper New England ( New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine ).

Issues that immediately come to mind are:

1. Water ... Keeping it from freezing, making certain its available, etc
2. Hay ( for cattle ) since you most likely can't graze as much on cool grasses.
3. Warmth during long cold snaps

I have heard that there are some types of cattle that handle the cold a little bit better than others ( Belted Galloways? ) ... Is this true??

As Always, Many, Thanks !

[MaineFarmMom]

Animals put on winter coats that are so warm snow will build up on their backs instead of melt from escaping body heat. If you give them adequate shelter they'll be fine. That doesn't mean air tight, warm and cozy shelter, but enough to shelter them from the wind and for some things, the rain and snow. My goats need more shelter than my cattle. They hate the snow and rain but the cattle don't mind. I've had Belted Galloways, Dexters, Herefords, Highlands and crosses of some of those. They have no problems in winter.

You can buy heaters to keep water from freezing. And you can buy hay to feed for the winter into spring.

[beorning]

I'm no expert, but have had a wee bit of experience with cold weather livestock issues. We used a broken galvanized waterer for the chickens. It leaked, thus kept the water moving and prevented it from freezing. We didn't have really brutal cold, though. five or ten degrees was the lowest.

I saw an article once about a guy that built a passive solar watering station to keep his cattle trough ice free. It was like a little greenhouse built over the trough. I want to say that it was in a vrey old issue of Mother Earth news.

One of the coolest winter set ups I've ever seen for feeing hay was in a book called grass fed beef. Joel salatin was the author I believe, though I could be wrong on that. He confined the cows and had a feeding area built into his hay barn, as well as a small yard for the cows to hang out in. He ran a manure spreader through the feeding area regularly to lay down bedding, and threw down wheat and corn as he went. The composting bedding helped keep things warm,and in the spring, after the cattle were turned out, he bought a couple of pigs and put them in the feeding area. They would turn the whole pile digging for that grain he layered into it, and all he had to do when they were done was scoop out the compost with a front end loader and butcher his bacon.

You could always go the conventional route and buy a stock tank deicer for the cows. I hear they are expensive to run. We had a spring fed trough on our pasture that never froze, due to constant movement of the water.

[angus]

to get you through Sept-Nov and a little bit of early Spring?? or do you need to feed em hay/grain from late Oct-April ??

[Wolf mom]

Lets see...

water deicer: I have one that's got a thermostat on it. Works well.

Buy enough hay to last throught the winter. Prices can get real high in the winter.

Red heat lamp for the chickens in their coop. Put their waterer in the coop so it doesn't freeze.

Have some sort of shelter for the cattle so they have a choice of being inside or outside.

I like beorning's MEN article. The more I do around here, the more I think solar is the way to go, with the price of electricity.

[albionjessica]

Here's a farmer that keeps cows all year long. You can read through his journal online and find out some good pointers and some answers to "what-if's". There's a lot of good stuff, and even a few videos of his cows.

http://www.stonyfield.com/weblog/BovineBugle/index.html

[mpillow]

Good pasture rotation will give you growth until Nov. so long as the snowfall isnt significant. Back on pasture with good growth by mid-May.

Most hay in Maine is timothy/clover....round bales are most popular for cattle...hay is readily available most years if you dont have your own....I buy hay from a neighbor at $3 a sq. bale for my goats. Its scores in excellent category and we rarely ever have a moldy bale to discard. Most farmers here in central Maine have Holstiens and they go out to eat in winter (in the mud pit) with a three-sided quanset hut for shelter. Some farmers do the white wrap on round bales some just stack them or leave them in the field or some combination of both.
Highland cattle dont even need shelter from what I understand. I think they are popular in Northern Maine. Their feed requirements are less than other breeds.

My goats go thru winter bred to kid in April on just hay...I don't feed grain until they are milking...We've had trips on just hay a few times and our barn has open eves, no power, but I do keep a buildup for them. And warm water 2-3x daily.

My chickens are in an 8*8 gambrel shed that is uninsulated. I use the rubber feed pans for water and provide warm water 2x daily. Ice can be busted out without breakage with rubber. I use pine shavings and leaves for their bedding. No heat light just a 15w CFL. 20 hens and 2 roos...Buff O

[vtfarma]

We live in Northern VT. We have 13 head of beef - hereford, charolais and simmental right now. We brought 10 through the winter (2 gave birth earlier this year and 2 more due this spring/summer). We grain them when it is extremely cold. Cows are temperature neutral to 20 degrees. We fed out 75 round bales this year from october to current. They have a portable shed (heavy duy one) set up on the side of the hill protected by the trees to go into when they want to. They also have some heavily forested evergreen areas that they enjoy when it really blows around here. The cows use the shed in the spring and fall if it is windy and wet, usually use the woods during the winter IF it is really windy. Cold seems to not be such an issue - it is the wind. The waterer we used to use a heater and it would still freeze. Now we take the pump out of our mid sized frog pond and drop it in the cow waterer in the winter. It keeps the water open (or a bubble of very thin ice over the bubbler at 25 below). Works for us. Otherwise we are out there every morning breaking out ice and scooping it out. The goats have a stall in the barn and run around during the day, they are happy with the extra hay to snuggle into. The chickens - you just have to collect the eggs more often. I also have extra waterers for the chickens that I bring down with me and switch out in the morning and evening when it is below 10 degrees or so. It freezes solid when it gets that low. Extra light for the chickens is imperative. We leave a light on for them for an extra 4 to 6 hours giving them about 16 hours of light a day, usually they lay normally then.

Need more info - pm me. Thanks, Laurie

[Maura]

Your hay needs protection. I only buy half of what I need, that which I can fit under the big tarp, then buy the other half when that is about gone. If the hay gets wet, it will get moldy. I haul buckets of water once a day, all winter. It's a drag. They don't drink as much water as you think because they need less in the winter, and they will eat snow. As long as they have access to water sometime during the day they will fill up on it, poultry and four leggeds, then they will nibble on snow. Some of my sheep prefer snow to water.

[rambler]

Cattle are easy. Keep them out of the wind. About it.

I graze cornstalks over winter, works until the snow gets too deep. Then hay & feed. Gets to 20 below, snow can get a few feet deep here, so no regular winter grazing.

Water, you can use electric to heat, massivly big waterer with lots of cattle to keep it flowing, or I got an earth tube enegry free type several years ago, works real well.

I use the Cobbett, mentioned in this article on diff waterer types:

http://www.acreagelife.com/articles/...ter_issues.cfm


Or at:

http://www.cobett.com/

I'd buy another, works as advertised.

--->Paul

[Jena]

I had Ritchie cattle waterers that had heaters in them. For other areas, I used tank heaters or just filled the tank once a day (drain the hose when you are done, or your hose will be froze). Chickens had a heater under their waterer.

How long you can graze depends on your pasture. We would let them graze stalks, but had to break out the hay along the end of November. Fed hay until April. Grass would start greening up before that, but I didn't want to put them on until it was growing well.

I used large round bales and moved them with a tractor. If you can't move them, line them up in one spot and use a hot wire to allow access to them. The feeding area will get VERY mucky, but it works. I never stored hay covered or inside. It was out in the weather and was ok. I had maybe 10-20% waste of stuff they would not eat.

Shelter...was hills and trees. They don't need more than that. Of course, the chickens has a coop. I did have a feed lot and had a bedding mound in there. We just kept adding straw all winter. As it all composted, it created warmth and gave them a dry place to lay.

Someone else said that cows are ok until you get to 20F. This is true. At lower temps, they will still be ok, but they start using more energy to keep warm. They can lose condition if you don't keep up with their energy needs through extra feed. it is acceptable for cows to lose some condition over winter. They don't have to come out looking as sleek and fat as they go in.

One warning would be calving. If you plan to calve while it is still cold, you might have to make arrangements for calves. I've calved them when it was in the 20's without a problem, but lower than that you probably want to be able to get the calves dried off quickly (or calve in a barn) to avoid them freezing.

Jena

[Jillis]

Here in Zone 2, on the border of CA, we cannot graze into November. We generally have snow about mid-October, although it may not last...maybe some rare years you can graze into November a bit...

I buy exellent timothy hay at $2.00 a square bale if we pick it up ourselves off the truck in the field...$3.00 a bale if we get it after it's been stored in the barn...

Goats, especially Alpines and Nigerian Dwarfs appear to be cold hardy, except if you have the babies in the very cold weather...I don't plan on it, myself. I've done that, and it is a lot more work and worry. The goats all turned their noses up at cold water in winter though. They wanted it warm...then they sucked it down.

The chickens do really well down to anything below zero F. At that point I turn on the infrared heating lamp. In winter I plastic the chicken house windows and put cardboard on the walls to cover the crack the wind blows through, Chickens do well when there is no wind to ruffle their feathers and disrupt the insulation their feathers provide. Their combs and wattles can get frostbit though. You have to either have a heated waterer, or keep giving them fresh hot water throughout the day. Also, we check for eggs more frequently or they can freeze and crack...if you give your chickens a little more cracked corn when it is very cold it helps them to heat up a bit...

Rabbits LOVE cold weather! Our rabbit was fine no matter how cold it got!

That's all I can help you with here!

[Jennifer L.]

Pretty much what everyone else said goes here in Northern NYS, too. Grazing is from May 10 to November 10, traditionally, but if you get much grazing past late October it's a good year. Water is not a problem with an insulated waterer with a heat cable to it, or you can simply barn up the cows for the winter. Black cows do have an edge on white ones in the winter, as they soak up heat from the sun a little better, but as was pointed out, they do grow winter coats unless they are in the barn and fed a lot of grain. My neighbor has Black Angus and they have no barn at all. Just hollows in the land and the woods to get into. They do fine. I'd prefer a barn they can get into, though, but then I've got milkers, not beefers.

I think the cows enjoy winter: no insects, I bring the feed to them so they don't have to get out of bed, etc.

Jennifer

[kesoaps]

Good link, Jess!

I think it's the rain or severe winds that get animals more than just cold or snow. A simple three sided shelter that blocks the wind (here, it's the north easter' that gets us, so we know which way to have the opening face) will suffice with most animals for winter. Plenty of hay available to help them keep their body heat up.

For chickens, having a hen house that's large enough for them to have food, water and room to move around indoors on the coldest of days is quite nice. Water indoors doesn't tend to freeze as quickly, either, and a nice heat lamp inside will keep things comfortable for the birds.

[punkrockpilot]

I mounted a small "buddy" propane heater on the wall of my well built 8' x 8' chicken coop and hooked it up to a 20# propane tank - on the nights that get well below freezing I turn it on low and it keeps my girls comfy. Used it less than 5 nights this winter.

[Christiaan]

Highlands don't start loosing bodyheat until -18 F, which we never get here. Zero is the lowest I've seen it in the past 40+ years. Some tree shelter and they are happy as clams. I feed hay from early Nov through end of March in "normal years". Drought two years ago made us feed hay beginning in July. Ouch, that was a pricey year. Luckily, Highlands will gain weight on the cheapest hay around. Electric stock tank heater keeps the tank ice free.
Chickens, prevent drafts and they'll do just fine. Best if you keep breeds with small combs and wattles because frostbite is a problem. I carry out water twice a day, my time is cheaper than the heaters I'd need. Finally, I give them an extra ration of corn just before they start going in, helps keep them warm. I use CFL's to keep them laying , no extra heat needed.

[rambler]

Holstien/ angus cross keep fine down to minus 20 F if they don't have udders & you give them a spot out of the wind. And dry. Mind you they need to be used to the cold - their hair grows in better. Can't just toss them out in the cold. And they are not gaining any weight at those temps. You need them full of hay - all they want, plus grain for energy. And, odd as it may sound, water is _very_ important when it is cold, they need good clean water available.

Now the cows need a bit better protection at those temps, and real young of course.

Here in MN it's not the cold - the cattle do well in the cold. The problem time is the muddy spring. Lose more critters when it is 30 degrees, windy, damp, and deep mud. Harder on them than when it is zero or below.

--->Paul