You’ve heard the adage, “If you’re cold, they’re cold, bring them in,” right? This might be true for companion animals who are spoiled by warm, cozy nights sleeping in your recliner, but other animals aren’t affected by the cold like us humans. Sometimes I think they downright love the cold, because they refuse to come in and choose to stand out in the snow. As livestock managers, it is our job to provide them with the resources to combat the cold and keep them healthy.
Focusing on providing consistent resources, such as shelter water and nutrition, will give our animals the best chance to get through the winter with minimal weight loss and decreased production.
Shelter
Winter brings snow, rain, ice and sleet. It is important to not only provide wind-protected housing, but housing that will provide dry conditions. Utilizing windbreaks, natural barriers or three-sided shelters will help block heavy winds. Most animals are provided with natural insulation, their coats. The coat’s ability to keep them warm and reduce the loss of body heat is greatly increased when the hair is dry.
Bedding, whether that be hay or straw, can be used to insulate against the cold ground and prevent muddy situations. If you have facilities that allow for indoor housing, ensure that there is adequate airflow. Fresh air helps prevent respiratory issues that may be caused by a buildup of ammonia from waste caused by extended periods of time indoors.
Water
Dehydration isn’t a term that immediately comes to mind when you think of winter, but it can happen when temperatures like we are experiencing now, are extremely low. If you have ever had to break ice in a trough or a bucket for your animals, you know how difficult that can be. Preventing the situation can decrease stress in your animals who can’t find their water source. It will also make your life easier and decrease your stress, too.
Nutrition
Proper nutrition is the main defense against the cold for livestock animals. Ruminant animals like cattle, sheep and goats produce additional body heat through digesting forage and increasing their metabolism. This metabolism increase will require them to consume more feed. By providing higher quality feed they are able to digest it quicker. Lower quality hay tends to be more stemmy and isn’t as easily digestible, which can affect the process of metabolism and producing that much-needed body heat to stay warm.
If the animal isn’t able to meet its energy needs to stay warm, it will start breaking down body stores and lose weight. This will cut into productivity. It is important to keep an eye on body conditioning scores as we go through the winter months. Visual observations are helpful but remember that animals who have heavier coats in the winter may be hiding weight loss. During routine work, run your hand along the spine and ribs to make sure that their coat isn’t hiding a change in body condition.
Cold and snowy weather conditions make everything we do as farmers and livestock producers more difficult. Having systems in place prior to winter can make all the difference in the health of your herd.
(Catelyn Turner is an OSU Extension Agriculture and Natural Resource Educator.)
