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Winter – a time for warming around a fireplace, of flannel shirts and hot cocoa.

Down on the farm, fields are fallow, frozen and asleep for the winter. For dairy farmers and ranchers, life goes on, for their participation in preserving their livestock becomes far more than casual. Winter offers weightier, often difficult challenges that will not wait.

While we don’t know what struggles Mother Nature will deliver in the coming months, farmers and ranchers have seen it before. But every year creates its new odyssey. “We have a very lean supply of hay with the recent drought,” said Reagan Bluel, University of Missouri Extension dairy specialist based in Cassville. “It’s not unique to us. In Kansas, 100 percent of the state is designated drought. The good news is northern Missouri had a good growing season. Unlike 2012, there is forage to be had, but you’ve got to truck it here.”

Bluel said Governor Mike Parson with Chris Chinn, Missouri director of agriculture, worked with the Department of Transportation to lift some of the limitations to move hay here, including lifting weight limits. A portion of trucking costs can be paid with federal drought assistance money, so Bluel advised keeping receipts so that a percentage of that expense can be reimbursed.

16 | January 2023

by Murray Bishoff

energy dense but more economical and often available. Keeping free choice extra minerals, like calcium, out for the cattle as needed also becomes important for their health when stressed.

The cold may not bother cows as much as an onlooker might think. Bluel has experienced warm dairy barns as a cow typically radiates heat at 101 degrees.

“It’s like having a radiator in the house,” she said.

Putting up plastic curtains across a barn door can create a comfortable space occupied by lactating cows, whose comfort zone is 32 to 72 degrees. Wind and frosted teats when outdoors trouble cows more than just the cold.

rubber tire tanks, like from an excavator, where lots of volume holds the ground heat and will typically only superficially freeze.

McCorkill cautioned that, “Snow doesn’t equate to water. A lot of time there’s not a lot of moisture in snow. Make sure the cattle have water.”

“Old ranchers who have gone through enough winters know the tricks,” Bluel said. “Young producers who don’t have infrastructure in place and operate on a shoestring budget struggle the most. I just trenched in my first water line last year. It was the first time I didn’t have water problems. While there’s a textbook on what to do, sometimes cash flow during those early years make it hard.”

In the meantime, cows have to eat. Lactating dairy cows need more energy and protein to support milk production. Patrick Davis, field specialist in livestock with the Extension for Cedar County, advised getting hay tested, as 2022 was a tough growing year promoting poor quality forages, because of the wet spring and subsequent drought. With drought conditions spread fairly widely since July, some producers have been feeding their cows hay for two or three months already.

Where hay tests call for feed supplements, Davis said options may depend on what a producer has. He recommends corn, with some dry distiller’s grain mixed in, for higher protein. Where price becomes an issue, Davis recommended considering corn gluten feed, not as

“Beef cows are pretty tough birds,” said Andy McCorkill, Extension field specialist in livestock, based in Lebanon. “They can get by with a good dry coat in temperatures down in the teens. It’s good to move cattle around to where there are trees that can break the wind. A cold wet rain is the hardest thing on them. That will chill them to the bone.”

For comfort, producers often rolled out hay for cows to sleep on. Bluel said with little extra forage available, a bed of corn stalks would also suffice. Surprisingly, few ranchers will build windbreaks, though some may stack hay bales for protection. Few beef producers have barns either.

Water becomes even more critical in winter. All the specialists said water has to stay available, even if it requires breaking up the ice. Lactating cows especially need clear, fresh water. Bluel recommended considering a smaller tank to keep the water moving. Many use big

She noted essential strategies must involve carefully checking the farm’s back-up generators, critical for maintaining a dairy farm’s milking. McCorkill advised checking the mechanics of any automatic watering system, making sure the floats are set right and the overflow valve is working.

Managing herds also becomes critical in winter conditions. McCorkill advised separating cows that have either given birth in the fall from the ones due for spring delivery, as their nutritional needs will be opposite. Fall cows at early or peak lactation need more feed, while pregnant cows won’t need as much. He suggested separating the calves from the cows if the strain of producing milk causes serious weight loss.

If a producer has difficulty stretching resources during winter, it may become necessary to reduce the size of the herd. McCorkill recalled the late Eldon Cole, longtime southwest Missouri livestock specialist, referred to “the four O’s” as standards for whether to keep a cow: old (which often means less production), open (not pregnant when she should be), ornery, or other (such as utter or feet problems, or too big, demanding more food).

Culling has become a strategy nationwide. Cow numbers have dropped substantially. Once a cow has been culled, it takes two years to get another calf on the ground, resulting in lower beef inventories in the grocery store for years ahead.

Davis recommended using a body condition score system to assess how cattle handle seasonal stress. He wants to see fall calving cows score above a 4, not showing ribs, and see spring calving cows at least a 6, with no ribs showing and a good smooth appearance, for delivering healthy calves. Outside of that range ought to prompt corrective action.

“I think this year producers will be taking a hard look at their feed supplies, getting numbers, identifying the ones that aren’t doing their job for you, and culling their herds if they have to,” Davis said. “It’s going to be a hard winter.”

When winter doesn’t end, dumping snow and ice on the area in late March and early April, options boil down to basics.

“You have to continue on,” Davis said. “That’s about all you can do. Weather like that is going to affect some of the March and April things you’re going to do. Obviously, you will need to feed a little more hay.”

“We keep on keeping on,” Bluel said, regardless of the weather. She added, “Please mix milk with your hot chocolate. Dairy farmers will thank you.”

Braille Work Center at Trinity Lutheran recognized