Keep Cattle Clean to Optimize Winter Feedyard Performance

Introduction

As we begin to make our way through winter, it is important to remember that cattle with a clean open hair coat with shelter from wind are less impacted by cold stress than those with dirty, matted, and/or wet hair coats and those exposed to the wind. Routine bedding and pen cleaning are necessary to keep cattle clean. Shelter from the wind does not necessarily have to be a shed; windbreaks work well coupled with a dry place to lay down.

Feedyard performance estimates

Feedyard performance estimates for a 700-pound beef steer in three winter weather scenarios are shown in Table 1 to illustrate how temperatures and wind influence cattle performance.

In this example, dirty is defined as a having mud- and manure-matted hair coat in small and large areas on the legs, lower sides, and underbelly. It is important to realize that it does not take much mud and manure on the hides to impact cattle performance during winter. Dirtier cattle would have more significant reductions in performance.

In Wisconsin, average winter weather conditions are a temperature of 20° F and winds around 10 miles per hour.

Cattle with clean dry hair coats are able to tolerate average winter conditions quite well, while the cattle with dirty coats see reduced performance when exposed to average wind conditions.  These differences may not appear very large, but it is important to recognize these conditions likely exist for four or more months during the winter. When multiplied over several animals in a pen, the differences quickly add up. 

During a moderate cold snap, cattle with a clean hair coat do have a small drop in performance as additional energy is needed to maintain core temperature. Cattle with dirty hair coats have larger reductions due to temperature and even greater reductions when exposed to the wind. 

In the last example, when temperatures are warm enough that the cattle coats and pens may be wet for extended periods of time in addition to being dirty, performance decreases are also quite large compared to dry clean cattle.  Compare that to being outside on a cold day in wet clothes.    

The decreases in gain in these examples could easily add an additional 20 to 70 days on feed to reach the same target end weights, adding additional feed and yardage costs to the total cost of finishing the animals.  Pen cleaning and providing clean bedding are critical to keeping cattle clean. Only providing bedding during the adverse conditions is not enough, because the cattle’s coats are likely already dirty from a dirty pen

Summary

In summary, implementing management practices to keep cattle clean and out of the wind is critical to optimizing winter performance in the feedyard.  Not doing so increases cost of gain both during the time of the stress and due to additional time needed to reach the desired end weight.

References

Dahlke, G., Beef Ration a Nutrition Decision Software (BRaNDS), , Iowa Beef Center, Iowa State University Extension, https://www.iowabeefcenter.org/brands.html

National Weather Service, https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate

Reviewers

Beth McIlquham
Regional Livestock Educator
University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension

Kim Kester
Regional Livestock Educator
University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension

Adam Hartfiel
Regional Livestock Educator
University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension

Author

 

William Halfman

Beef Outreach Specialist – Bill’s educational programming has focused on beef cattle production and management, agronomic crops and soils production and management, small scale fresh market and bedding plant production, and specialty crop management.

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