AIR JANUARY 13, 1999

Thank you Mark and good morning everyone. Here we are already half way,almost, through January. How are those taxes coming?? If you didn’t make it out to our lease and land value meeting last night I so have most of the handouts at the Extension Office and a video tape of the program is available for check out. It may not be the best quality but if you couldn’t make it it’s a chance to hear what happened.

The yo-yo weather of late is hard on you, me and the livestock. Let’s keep in mind that cattle are designed to be outside in the winter. They have certain adaptations that allow them to be more comfortable at lower temperatures than you or me, BUT they can still get cold. By now, most cattle are going to have a hair coat somewhere between a standard winter coat and a heavy winter coat - probably closer to a winter coat. With a standard winter coat cattle don’t start feeling cold stress until the temperatures get below 32 degrees. By contrast if the cattle have a heavy winter coat that lower critical temperature is 18 degrees. Okay, so what happens when the temperature drops below that lower critical temperature? The cattle need more energy to stay warm. If they are not provided more energy in their food they simply start to lose weight. For short periods of time (say, less than a week) or for backgrounders and stockers this is not a big deal. But if the cold is extreme or long in duration you must adjust rations accordingly. The general rule of thumb is, for every degree of cold stress below the lower critical temperature increase energy by 1%. Cold stress can be windchill IF the cattle have no wind protection. If they have wind protection then just use the actual temperature or reduce the wind chill effect. So if your cattle have an average winter coat, the temperature is 20 degrees and the windchill is 0 you would want to increase energy to the cattle by about 10% if there was a windbreak and about 33% if there wasn’t a windbreak. Cold stress does not change the protein, vitamin or mineral needs of cattle, just energy. What are some good sources of energy? Grains of course are very good, but be careful how much grain supplement you give to animals on a primarily roughage diet. Go no more than 2 - 3 pounds of extra grain. Wheat mids are a good source and for roughage based cattle you can go up to 6 pounds per day. High quality alfalfa hay is good also, but stay away from brome or prairie hay if you are looking for energy sources. For more information on winter rations contact me at the Extension Office

This is Chuck Otte, County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook ’99.

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