Coping with the cold….
….hasn’t quite been the proverbial “piece of cake”. Wooz has done pretty well and of course I’m inside the tractor. Here she checks our first-calf heifers to see how they withstood below zero temperatures the night before.
When it gets this cold we do relent and give the young ladies some grain….not only to stay warm but help with their first re-breeding. If this looks like pretty meager fare, it is; less than two pounds per cow. (Wooz gets a little more)
They’re also getting high quality alfalfa-mix hay and we believe that helps them through the cold, too.
3 Comments
mike ortwein
The article above by Virgin she says how good grass fed beef is, then is this blog you talk how you feed grain! You cannot now say your beef is 100% grass fed, let them have plenty of hay and they will do fine, and the ones that don’t let mother nature take care of them. It is called natural selection.
David
Have to disagree. All “grass fed” protocols I am aware of clearly permit feeding a limited amount of grain. Generally 1 or 2% daily and we’re nowhere near that. Beyond that, I’m feeding it to open cows (actually first-calf heifers), not steers used for meat. The steers are over in another pasture across the road, remaining “pure”.
I would have a little trouble justifying domesticating cows and then forcing them to endure a process of “natural selection”, which since man is making the decision isn’t “natural” at all. Why do I feel like I’m being led into a college bull session?
Regina Tesnow
I follow this protocol and agree with Davids’ logic. Any other time my cows are on grass or hay and sustain just fine and look great!