First snow, farm chores and a timely reminder: Mud costs cattle energy

The first snow of the year is here. While owning livestock and a farm, I am a little of “oh winter is here,” but in my mind this morning, as I was trudging through snow, checking livestock and waters before I left for work in the predawn light, I wanted to call in and say I am taking a snow day and riding my horse.

While I am sure I am part of the minority, I do love winter in Ohio. I sure hope it’s here to stay until March and we don’t have the vicious freeze/thaw cycle we have had the past few winters. I hate mud. I often joke with friends that if I ever hit the lottery, no one would know, but there would be signs, lots of concrete and mud grids, so none of my animals ever had to step in mud ever again.

Speaking of mud, we have a new assistant professor, Dr. Haley Linder of Ruminant Nutrition with Ohio State University Extension, who wrote a timely article about managing the winter mud tax in cow-calf herds. Linder shared the mud tax on cattle energy efficiency.

Research done at the OSU Eastern Agricultural Research Station in Caldwell showed cows housed in muddy, unbedded pens had an increased energy demand of 3.9 Mcal per day. To put 3.9 Mcal in perspective, that is roughly the energy contained in 4 pounds of corn.

In other words every cow is burning the equivalent of 4 pounds of corn per day to deal with mud, rather than using that energy to maintain body condition, support pregnancy or rebreed. That’s a major mud tax on the herd.

Why the loss happens

Cattle have two main defenses against cold: their hair coat (insulation) and their metabolism (body heat). Mud compromises both.

—Loss of insulation: When mud cakes onto a cow’s hide, it mats the hair down, destroying the air pockets that trap body heat. A wet, muddy cow is effectively naked against the wind, forcing her to burn valuable feed to maintain body temperature.

—Increased physical effort: We know how tiring it is to trudge across a muddy lot. Walking through mud requires significantly more physical exertion than walking on a firm surface, and for cattle, that extra exertion raises maintenance energy requirements. But mud doesn’t just increase energy needs. It also lowers feed intake. Mud 4-8 inches deep can decrease feed intake by 5-15% because cattle are less willing to walk to water or the feed bunk. Higher energy needs, coupled with lower feed intake, can cause cow performance to slip and ultimately bring down herd productivity.

Feel free to email me at hill.1357@osu.edu or call the office at 330-674-3015 if you would like the entire article printed and sent to you for reference or if you have questions.

My herd became its own field trial this year

Recovering from back surgery meant I couldn’t synchronize my cows' last breeding season, and adding a new bull only complicated things. What is normally a tight two-week fall-calving window stretched to nearly three months. For a fall-calving herd, December calves make it difficult to get cows rebred and have sale-ready calves for October production sales.

Even with my cows maintaining a body condition score of six or better, staying current on vaccinations and living in a well-managed dry lot, my own research showed I may not have been providing enough protein and amino acids during peak lactation. Adjusting those levels should help improve breed-back and tighten my calving window again, or at least I hope it helps.

Reproductive efficiency is the foundation of any beef breeding program. A cow must conceive in the first 40-60 days of the breeding season, calve unassisted, rebreed to maintain a 12-month cycle and raise a calf heavy enough to be profitable. Achieving this requires strong management including proper nutrition, adequate body condition, herd health, crossbreeding, sound breeding practices, and annual culling and replacement.

Beyond these basics, nutrition, especially metabolizable protein, plays a larger role than many realize. Beef cows in different stages of production have varied forage and protein needs. Research from Oklahoma State University Extension has been especially helpful in understanding total digestible nutrients and rumen-degradable protein and how they impact conception rates.

If you have questions or want to talk about horses, cattle or even the Ohio winter, feel free to reach out. I’d love to catch up. We are putting CIDRs in this week and will keep you all in the loop on our reproduction journey to tighten this calving window.

Stay safe and have a wonderful December. We have many events coming up after the first of the year and hope to see you at one soon.

If you need to complete your pesticide or fertilizer recertification this year, dates are now set, and preregistration is open. Call the office or email me to reserve your spot.

Janessa Hill is an ANR educator with Holmes County OSU Extension. She can be reached at hill.1357@osu.edu or by calling the office at 330-674-3015.