With a foot of snow on the ground and temperatures below freezing, many people often wonder what cows eat in the winter? The simple answer is hay.
Most people are familiar with the diet of cows in the summer, acres and acres of lush green grass. But what is hay? Hay is the most important feed on most cattle farms. Hay is roughage (grass and alfalfa) that has been cut, dried and baled. For example, it would be equivalent to eating dried fruit. By stocking feed in this manner, a producer can store a nutrient-rich feed source for animals to eat during the cold winter months.
On our farm, feeding the cows in winter starts in June. This is where we start preparing the equipment to make hay. Before mowing hay begins, all blades of the disc cutter must be replaced. The oil on the tractor needs to be changed. Belts and chains must be checked and adjusted on the baler.
Discbine mowing of hay
Usually around the first week of July, alfalfa and grasses start to close in and we start to see the weather forecast. Once we start cutting alfalfa and grass for hay, we don't want any more rain on it. Rain causes the cut forage to slowly rot, which has the potential to destroy the nutritional value of the hay once it is baled. While we hope and pray that no rain will fall, the cut alfalfa lies in windrows in the field and dries out. When the shards look and feel dry, we take out the hay rake and give the hay a turn. This ensures it dries evenly. When the clippings are dry, we take out the round baler and press the dried alfalfa and grass into hay bales. This process will be repeated again for our region in mid to late August.
Hearing rake
Once the hay is baled, we haul the hay home and stack it in our baling yard. The hay is stored here until it is used to feed the cows in the winter. We don't want to leave the hay bales in the field for too long because like any other item left in your lawn, the vegetative life under the bales cannot get sunlight and therefore dies.
Tractor and baler
When all the bales are home and we have finished making hay, we test the bales for nutritional value. This is done using a bale auger, a tool that you push into the center or core of the bale to take a small sample. We test all bales randomly, separating them by field or time they were cut. The sample is sent to a laboratory, where they test for nutrients, minerals, vitamins, digestibility and proteins, for example. We get back a printout that looks like the labels we see on our food. Based on this information, we decide when to feed certain bales, how many bales to feed the cows, whether to add whole grain supplements to their diet, and what other minerals and vitamins to add. to create a balanced ration to help the cows maintain their weight and, if bred, carry a healthy calf through the winter.
All cows in our area need a salt supplement in addition to hay. We have large metal bins all year round that contain salt supplemented with selenium, trace elements, vitamins A, D and E. Just as vitamins help us maintain our health, this mix keeps our livestock healthy.
On a cold winter day, cows enjoy a nice bale of hay
Happy, healthy cows are very important to producers. Preparing hay for winter use is one way we keep our cows fed and healthy, especially in the cold.
FAQs
High-quality feed for dairy cattle is crucial during the cold season. The best feed for cattle in winter often contains grains like wheat, barley, rye, and maize on top of hay, forage, and silage. Grains contain more calories and proteins, which helps cows meet their energy needs and produce milk.
What do cows eat in the winter? ›
We are asked this question quite often and the simple answer is....... 100% Grass-Fed cows eat "hay" in the wintertime.
What is the best feed for cows in cold weather? ›
High-protein feedstuffs include soybean meal (49% CP), cottonseed meal (41% CP) and corn gluten feed (19% CP). If both energy and protein are low, the supplement should contain a balance of both. Provide some type of shelter such as woods, hills or buildings to protect cattle from winds.
What is a winter feed structure for cattle? ›
Winter feed structures combine hay racks, water tanks, concrete pads and manure storage areas. A winter feed structure for 30 cows consists of a 45 × 27-foot (ft.) concrete pad with a 27 × 16-ft. area for storing manure.
How much to feed cows in winter? ›
Using a moderate DMI of 2% of body weight, we can estimate her daily DMI as 22 pounds of hay (24.2 pounds as fed, adding back in 10% water weight for hay). Multiplying this daily intake times the number of days in the feeding period, we get 4,404 pounds (2.2 tons) of hay needed for this one animal.
What to feed cows when there is no hay in the winter? ›
Corn silage can be an economical alternative for beef cows this winter. For example, if a 1400-pound cow is fed corn silage valued at $45 per ton as-fed, it costs $1.01 a day to feed the cow corn silage plus 2 pounds of dried distillers grains at $325/ton adds $0.33 for a total daily cost of $1.34.
How do cows not freeze in winter? ›
Cattle have built-in insulation against the cold with their thick winter coat, or hide. Plus, their average body temperature runs warm, around 101 degrees. In fact, cattle prefer the cold to hot temperatures. “Cattle do really well and thrive in the winter months,” Trampel says.
What is the cheapest way to feed cattle in the winter? ›
There are many ways to do this, which include using crop residues, utilizing cool-season forages that can be grazed earlier in the spring (getting cows off hay sooner) and saving certain pastures for late-fall or early- winter grazing. In areas where crop residues are available, they are the cheapest feed.
What is the cheapest food to feed cattle? ›
"Corn residue is one of the lowest cost forages on a cost per pound of energy. That's why mixing a high energy and protein feed like distillers' grains with a low quality forage like corn stalks is so cost effective. Distillers' is often a low-cost source of both energy and protein.
How do you feed livestock in the winter? ›
Limit feeding options
Cows can be limit-fed a high-grain ration. This meets energy needs with less feed. Compare the cost of grain to hay on a per-unit-of-energy basis when considering this option. Some producers graze standing milo as an effective, lower-cost way to feed cows through the winter.
The most accurate method of determining your winter hay needs for cows is by calculating the percentage of body weight that your cow will consume as hay each day. A cow's average feed intake is approximately 3.0 to 3.5% of its body weight.
How do farmers keep cows warm in winter? ›
Optimal body condition.
Farmers provide about 20% more feed to cattle heading into the colder months to add more body fat. This extra fat acts as insulation, conserving body heat. Cattle have a unique ruminant digestion system, which generates body heat. “They're like little furnaces,” Trampel says.
What is the best winter crop for cows? ›
So, selecting the right variety is critical when choosing your forages. It's essential to pick a variety of species that best fit your operational goals, rainfall, economics and region. For the Midwest, the best winter forages are cover crops such as cereal rye, radishes, turnips, annual ryegrass, oats and triticale.
What is the best winter feed for cows? ›
Straw can be fed in conjunction with medium to good quality hay, grain, protein supplement or combinations of these materials. Straw is only slightly lower in en- ergy than average quality hay, but it is usually low in protein, minerals and vitamins.
How many bales of hay to feed a cow? ›
A 1200-pound cow, ready for processing, will require 36 pounds of forage per day based on the formula used here. Thirty-six pounds of hay is close to one small square bale of hay per day, taking into consideration some waste.
What do wild cows eat in the winter? ›
Cattle still eat grass over the winter. it's just in the form of hay. Have you ever seen those round bales dotting the landscape as you drive down the interstate?
What do non-grass-fed cows eat? ›
Grain-fed cows are placed in pens and fed a diet of soy and corn based grains. They are also given drugs, hormones and antibiotics. This diet helps to accelerate their growth.
Can cows be 100% grass-fed? ›
Regardless of season or weather, cattle farms can raise cattle completely on a grass-based diet. Practices such as grass-fed, grass-finished meat, including the option to purchase a whole cow for sale, have been gaining importance and recognition nationwide.
What do free range cows eat? ›
And while a single free-range grass-fed cow consumes four to five tons of grass, hay and other native dry forage per year, free-range cattle – when managed correctly – can be both a sustainable meat source and also aid in sustainable farming practices.
