what to feed cow in coldest weather

[Skip]

Just thinking ahead, even though we are having our Indian summer weather this Thanksgiving weekend, temps are up in the low 70's. What do you feed a cow to warm them up? Going into this winter I got an unbred 3 yr old heifer, a nursing cow, and her calf. The bull calf will be between 6 and 7 months during the coldest spell, January and February. They are dexter crosses, (the cows - sired by small zebu) and the bull's sire was a dexter. I'm in a zone 3, northern Ontario.

[commonsense]

LOTS of hay. Good hay, not crummy hay. Ours primarily stay outside, with sheds for shelter and straw to bed down in, and we only feed hay.

[MO_cows]

Yep, what commonsense said. Digesting the hay actually creates heat. And make sure they have plenty of water, they won't eat enough if water is restricted.

[lakeportfarms]

Don't pamper them before the weather starts getting really cold by keeping them sheltered. Let them acclimate. Make sure they start the winter in good body condition. It's important to have a good windbreak.

We set up round bales in the pasture during the early winter, protected with hot fence placed on a insulated stake stuck in the bales, and move the round bale feeder as needed (if we're using one) to distribute the manure, mud, (or more likely) ice that forms when they congregate around a fixed feeding location. Packed snow, with ice forming from their urine and the chunky frozen manure plops can result in injury to the animal.The only problem we've encountered with the hot wire method is when we get the waist deep snowstorms that make it a bit difficult to wade through to move the wire for the next bale. But its nice not having to fire up the diesel tractor in -20 weather, even if it's plugged in.

There are some that swear that feeding a lower quality grass only hay during the short duration extreme cold snaps keeps them eating, which produces the heat. If you feed a high protein hay during the severe cold snaps they won't eat as much since their appetite is better satisfied. Then after the cold snap they'll feed them the higher protein alfalfa hay again.

[mozarkian]

Make sure to keep salt and mineral out for them too, as it will encourage them to drink the amount of water they need to be drinking.

[lakeportfarms]

To those that may wonder about the waste of the round bale left in the open, and moving the bale feeder to a new spot, even if there is some remaining hay, we've found that yes, they won't eat the weathered hay matter, it just sits on the ground, but they will use that to bed down in, and since we're moving them every day or two to a new bale, they always have a clean dry area to bed in. We also move them from Southeast to Northwest, so the other bales placed in the field provide a windbreak from the Northwest and Northeast winds we usually get.

[sammyd]

hay is good but even a lactating cow will start to lose condition at around -17 as the heat produced by digestion and lactation can't keep up. A little corn will help keep the condition on.

[Skip]

Thank you for your replies. I was suprised by how little they drank last winter, thinking the winter air would be drier. I will add cracked corn for the coldest days or have it on hand. A reply in another thread mentioned 14-18% cubes: What are these? What do I ask for at the feed store?

[lonelyfarmgirl]

We did bale grazing last winter, which is what lakeportfarms is talking about. It worked really great, except we had wire jumping issues.