----- Original Message -----
From: "Ann Tiplady & John Sease" <ann.tiplady@worldnet.att.net>
>
> I heard Greg Judy recently, advocating for no-hay whatsoever, and planning
> for grazing 365 days/year. Could it work here in Vermont? (Perhaps in a
> year when we don't have so much freezing rain?) I keep thinking about
> getting cows out to where they can winter in the trees, but there's still
> the feeding question (not to mention water out there).
>
>
> Thanks, Ann Tiplady
Cattle outside in winter require extra calories to compensate for the energy
needed to maintain body warmth.
Some years back, there was a grazing "consultant" who believed he could
outwinter his dairy cows on stockpiled pasture alone. Strike one, was the
cows went into winter with poor body scores. Strike two was the snow
covered what stockpiled "material" (no idea as to feed quality of this
stuff) there was.
This ended badly with dead cows, the county sheriff confiscating the rest
and farming ending up with a black eye for animal abuse.
If you can't realistically get food and water to where your cattle
outwinter, it isn't worth the risk. Better to construct a windbreak and
bedded pack adjacent to food and water. Windbreaks have been done by
stacking round bales, using sheet metal, using chopper boxes, etc. I've
seen a few frostbite ears on my cattle but never lost any during winter.
But I also grain-corn silage feed them 2X a day, plenty of calories.
Dave G.
WisCOWsin.
