Winter Ration and Bunk Management

By Randy Rosenboom, Territory Sales Manager, Kent Nutrition Group

Feeding cattle in winter weather presents a variety of challenges. Not only do we have several forms of precipitation to deal with, but we also face wild barometric swings that can have a large influence on feed intake. For ruminants, a dropping barometer signals potentially bad weather. In the wild, a ruminant animal’s response to a pressure drop is to load up on feed so it can “hide-out” and chew cud. Unfortunately, in the feedyard, the diet has too much starch to allow loading up.

Don’t try to outguess the cattle or weather, here are some tips to help with bunk management in a weather event.

• • If cattle ask for more feed prior to or during a weather event, and you have adequate bunk space and the event is short lived, don’t give it to them.
  • If the weather event is going to be for an extended time, keep to the one pound of dry matter (DM) increase per-day rule.
  • If bunk space is tight, you may be able to back up a ration and raise intakes to buffer the aggressive and non-aggressive eaters.
  • In a confinement slat barn where bunk space is very tight, space your two feeding periods only a few hours apart to accommodate the non-aggressive eaters.
  • In outside yards or bedding barns, try to address rising intakes with extra bedding. If the event is very moisture laden, this may not be an option.

Read the cattle as well as the weather. If bunks are cleaned up, but cattle are complacent, they don’t necessarily need an increase in dry matter. For more recommendations, contact your local Kent Nutrition Group representative or our Inside Sales team at 866.647.1212.