Feed costs are easy to spot in a beef cattle operation, but what about the other expenses quietly chipping away at your bottom line? This is where yardage comes in; it’s a crucial part of managing winter feeding costs in cow-calf operations.

What is yardage?

Yardage refers to the overhead and non-feed costs incurred while maintaining cattle during the winter feeding period. These costs include day-to-day expenses such as labour, equipment and building maintenance, fuel, utilities, manure handling and other general expenses such as farm taxes and accounting fees. They also include non-cash costs, such as machinery and facility depreciation, which represent the graduate loss of value in assets over time.

Yardage is typically expressed on a per-head per-day basis.

Why does yardage matter?

Yardage may not grab attention like feed costs, but it significantly impacts profitability. These costs, especially non-cash costs like depreciation, often remain unnoticed but can erode profitability over time. For example, underestimating yardage may lead a beef producer to assume their operation is more efficient than it truly is. Ignoring yardage also makes it difficult to identify areas where costs can be optimized. For example, the exclusion of machinery maintenance and repair costs may make the cow-calf enterprise look more profitable than it is.

Yardage insights can mean better decisions

Yardage is more than just a line on a spreadsheet — it’s a key component to understanding and controlling costs, and can be a powerful tool for improving financial outcomes. Here are some examples:

Pinpoint cost driver: Identify the most significant contributors to yardage and pinpoint opportunities for savings.

Evaluate resource utilization: Determine if equipment and facilities are underutilized or can be used for other farm tasks.

Explore alternatives: Yardage insights can highlight opportunities to lower non-feed costs through alternative feeding methods.

Assess economies of scale: Knowing yardage costs can help assess whether expanding the herd could lower costs per head. Overhead costs are often considered fixed, because they don’t change significantly with the size of the herd — up to a point. This means increasing the herd size can spread these costs over more animals, reducing the per-unit expense and improving cost efficiency. However, as the herd grows beyond the capacity of existing resources, additional expenses for equipment or labour may arise.

Keeping track of yardage

Accurate yardage calculations start with diligent record-keeping. Keep detailed records of cash expenses, such as utility bills, equipment maintenance costs and labour hours.

Many overhead costs are incurred at the whole-farm level, making it necessary to allocate these costs across different enterprises and production stages to calculate yardage accurately.

—> READ MORE: Rethinking yardage costs by Sean McGrath

Overhead costs include machinery maintenance and repairs, building repairs, utilities, insurance, property taxes and salaries.

For farms with multiple enterprises (say, cash crops and cattle), allocating whole-farm costs to the cow-calf winter feeding period can be complex but essential. Various methods can be used for this allocation:

Time-based allocation: For assets like machinery or facilities, costs can be divided based on the proportion of time these resources are used for winter feeding.

Revenue-based allocation: It can be difficult to track or estimate the use-time of each fixed asset used on a diversified farm. In this case, costs can be divided based on the cow-calf enterprise’s share of total farm revenue. For instance, if the cow-calf enterprise generates $40,000 in revenue and the crop enterprise generates $60,000, the total farm revenue is $100,000. The cow-calf enterprise’s share is 40 per cent, so 40 per cent of overhead costs would be allocated to it.

Alternative methods: Costs can also be allocated using the percentage of gross margin or total expenses contributed by each enterprise. For example, if the cow-calf enterprise incurs 45 per cent of the total farm expenses, 45 per cent of the overhead costs would be allocated to it.

The BCRC cow-calf yardage calculator

The Cow-Calf Yardage Calculator is designed to help producers estimate their yardage by providing a clear template and streamlining the calculation process. It requires data input on herd size, winter feeding days, whole-farm cash overhead costs and the values of machinery and buildings allocated to the cow-calf winter feeding period. This tool calculates the total yardage cost, including a breakdown of cash expenses and depreciation on machinery and buildings.

In this calculator, non-feed variable costs — such as veterinarian services, medicine and bedding — are treated separately from yardage. However, they can be entered in a supplementary section to calculate the combined total of yardage, bedding and veterinary and medicine costs.

Making other yardage-related calculations

While yardage is commonly expressed on a per-head per-day basis, the calculator also provides results in cost per animal unit day (AUD) when animal weights are entered. Production cost and feeding capacity can vary significantly with animal size. Yardage on a per-AUD basis helps allocate overhead cost or shared resources based on cattle size or type.

This approach is useful when calculating profits, as both costs and revenue can vary with cattle size and type. For example, a larger 1,500-lb. cow may have a higher yardage cost but could also wean a heavier calf compared to a smaller 1,300-lb. cow. Calculating yardage per AUD also provides a standardized measure for comparing costs across farms with different herd compositions or within the same farm as herd composition or cattle sizes shift over time.

Bottom line

Understanding yardage is vital for identifying inefficiencies, managing resources and improving profitability. By tracking yardage, producers can better navigate challenges and create opportunities for growth.

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Yet, nobody should open the gate to any field and allow cows to stampede into it. That’s because there are still some issues in order to make grazing standing corn a good winter forage. I recommend that a mid-winter review of any such feeding program be made to assure all cowherd requirements for essential nutrients are met.

For example, the higher dietary energy of standing corn makes it nutritionally more attractive as compared to other common overwinter forages, as illustrated in the table here.

I recognize that the nutrient requirements of mid-gestation cows need 52-55 per cent TDN and about eight to nine per cent crude protein on a daily basis to maintain an optimum body condition of 5 to 6 and an early-term fetus.

As they move into the last trimester of pregnancy (where 75 per cent fetal growth occurs), pre-calving cows need 56-58 per cent TDN and about 11-12 per cent protein. It seems to me corn grazing will cover both phases of dietary energy requirements.

Unfortunately, cows grazing standing-corn acres as their source of overwinter feed will barely meet crude protein requirements during mid-gestation and fail to meet them during late-gestation.

READ MORE: Intercropping corn for better shoulder season grazing

That’s why there are many commercial protein supplements that help complement a gestation beef feeding program based on grazing corn fields. For example, many producers purchase protein range cubes/pellets, often made from high-protein distillers’ grains or 20 to 30 per cent protein cattle lick-tubs, that can be placed for every 25 beef cows throughout the cornfield.

Supplementing protein to grazing corn seems like a straightforward fix; however, I’ve talked to many producers and they tell me there are other unique hurdles. Here are some of their experiences to overcome them.

Field acidosis

One producer moves his 150 black Angus cows, from one grazed paddock to a fresh paddock of 10 acres, every week. In this way, he prevents acidosis upsets, since palatable ears of corn are eaten first (two to three days), then the leaves and thin stalks (two to three days), and finally leftover hard stalks.

Mould and mycotoxins

During a particularly wet fall, I drove past a field of standing corn in which its leaves were literarily blue with surface mould. To prevent abortions possibly caused by potential mycotoxins, I formulated a mineral with mycotoxin binders that was fed to this cowherd grazing within its blue corn field acres.

Water intake

Many producers rely upon adequate snowfall throughout the winter to meet the natural water requirements of their grazing beef cows. In one particular case, there isn’t enough snow, so the producer dug a water line and placed an accessible waterer along the corn field near his home farm.

Mineral program

Corn plants are notoriously low in calcium content. Since a beef cow requires up to 30 grams of calcium per day (as well as other macro- and micro-minerals and vitamins) a well-balanced high-calcium/modest phosphorus commercial mineral should be provided at 70 to 100 grams per head per day.

Cold weather

As the winter weather becomes much colder; the beef cows’ dietary energy requirement, just to stay warm, increases by two per cent for every 1 C drop in temperature below 0 C. This means that when the outside temperature is -25 C, the cow’s energy requirements increase by 50 per cent. To remedy this issue, many producers provide energy-enriched supplementary feeds.

One producer told me that he did not set aside and grow 200 acres of standing corn fields that he normally would have planted in the last 10 years. Instead, he planted and set up barley swaths (nutrient value also outlined in the table here).

The reason for the switch: three years of drought had led to not enough corn biomass on its own merit to overwinter his 350 beef cows.

The way this producer and other people still assess it, grazing standing corn is a good forage to overwinter beef cows. Its success depends upon how well its nutrition (and overcoming hurdles) keep the cow herd in good body condition until calving time — more specifically, when a healthy cow gives birth to a vibrant newborn calf.

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He’s got more than one variety growing — a grazing-oriented option and the typical silage corn — but the real experiment is happening beneath the canopy. This year, the corn shared space with forage soybean and hairy vetch.

The beans were “very impressive,” he said during a late-January tour to his farm south of Brandon, Man. “In the best spots of this field, where there was 10-foot-tall corn, the beans were probably chest height.”

The idea of adding legumes to intercrops for soil health purposes is well established. The hope is that the field will benefit from added nitrogen fixation, along with the purported other benefits of intercropping, such as erosion prevention, green cover and weed suppression.

From a feed standpoint, both soybeans and vetch are high in protein, offsetting the typical weakness in corn, which is famously high in energy but requires supplementation when fed.

In recent years research stations have explored intercropping in terms of corn grazing and improved soil health, and to gauge whether the practice could reduce time and cost associated with supplemental hay.

How it started

Forage soybeans are new to intercropping species lists in Manitoba.

The idea of a long-growing species, which would stay vegetative in a northern climate, was interesting to Joe Gardiner, co-founder of forage seed provider Covers and Co. The variety he chose, sourced out of South Carolina, was marketed for grazing and as a tool to improve soil health.

The ensuing trials showed promise. With soybeans added, Gardiner reported 40-50 pounds an acre of residual nitrogen in 30-inch corn rows. His own experiments on 60-inch rows showed even more, although the company’s current recommendation is to stick to narrower spacing to preserve biomass yield.

Forage soybeans were later integrated into plots at the Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization. The southwestern Manitoba research station, known for its intercrop innovation, had turned its attentions to forage corn mixes.

Forage soybeans joined tillage radish, Italian rye grass, crimson clover and hairy vetch in the lineup of corn companion crops. They were a stand-out success.

The species has also been put to work on Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives, an applied research farm north of Brandon, said Covers and Co. sales manager Owen Taylor.

“We recommend sowing at 20 pounds per acre, either day before, day after or the same day as the corn planter,” he said. “Most producers will just solid-seed the soybeans, a lot of them, when they put the fertilizer down. Some producers were able to bump the planter over and sow directly between the rows.”

Producers fertilize the corn at regular rates, he added.

The company also urges producers to seed rows north-south to maximize sunlight between the rows.

Corn grazing is untested ground. The company typically sees the mix put to silage, Taylor said, with cows turned out afterward to graze the residue in fall or early winter.

“Probably 60 to 70 per cent of the plant actually ends up in the pile and we’re seeing an increase of 1.5 to two per cent in protein on a feed test. And then what’s left of the beans, guys are grazing it after.”

Producers who corn graze can expect the same soil health, nutrition and water infiltration benefits of intercropping for silage, Taylor said, but it’s unknown how snow load and leaf drop will affect feed quality.

How it’s going

McRae opted for 30-inch corn rows, but backed off the population. His stand was targeted at 24,000 plants per acre, down from the 30,000 he’s done for regular corn grazing.

The soybeans were seeded the day after the corn at the rate recommended by Covers and Co. Hairy vetch was seeded at five pounds an acre.

“I’ve liked it so far,” McRae said of the soybeans. “The beans, I think, are adding a little bit of protein and other minerals to it.”

That’s hard to quantify, he admitted. Feed tests prior to turn out showed an increase in protein and the beans climbed high enough to clear the snowpack, but he doesn’t have a split field set up to directly compare a pure corn system to the intercrop.

“I haven’t really sat there all day and watched them graze through it, but judging by what’s left when they leave the field, they’re eating enough of it that I think they’re getting some benefit,” he said.

Between hairy vetch and soybeans, however, the soybeans are winning. Both the corn and soybeans are glyphosate-tolerant, making weed management easy, McRae noted. The vetch was stunted by the herbicide.

“I think that’s a little bit year-to-year dependent,” he said. “I was hoping the vetch would vine its way up the corn so we would be able to access it this time of year in the winter.”

There are few good herbicide options for a corn intercrop, other than glyphosate.

“It’s just so hard to put another species into it because all of the corn herbicide is meant to kill everything except corn,” McRae said, adding that there is also the challenge of herbicide residue.

He has had a good winter for the experiment so far, Taylor noted. Snowpack has been light, reducing hurdles for soybean uptake.

Covers and Co. does not have different recommendations for corn intercrop grazing versus intercropping for silage, he said.

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One option to increase forage production is seeding and grazing annual crops, which may include cereals and brassicas. Extending the grazing season with annuals can help reduce production costs. Late summer and fall pasture may be short in dry climates, since productivity of cool-season perennial grasses is hindered during the heat of summer.

Dr. Tim DelCurto, a specialist in Range Beef Cattle Nutrition and Management at Montana State University, says harvested hay is expensive, and many ranchers are looking at alternatives.

“Traditionally, many people put up hay all summer and fed hay all winter, but that’s less appealing today, especially as people get older and machinery gets older, and the cost of replacing machinery keeps getting higher.”

Some range operations can extend grazing well into winter, but there is always some risk. “There might be a huge storm and deep snow,” DelCurto says. “But the benefits of being able to graze longer are substantial. At our research center at Havre and with our MSU herd, we’ve focused on extending grazing. A couple years ago we only fed hay for one month at our MSU Red Bluff Research Center.”

Stockmen are looking at reducing costs, reducing their reliance on harvested feed and fossil fuels, and trying to find ways to have cattle harvest their own feed. Growing cover crops requires farming equipment and fuel to get the crop seeded, but if they are doing some farming anyway, it can be cost-effective to grow triticale, forage barley, and other annual forages for fall grazing. More producers are realizing they can use range and native grass pastures in summer and then move to annual crops that can carry cattle through the fall and into winter.

“One of the challenges in making recommendations is that there are no two farms alike,” says DelCurto. “What might work for one may not work for another; it depends on climate, resources, labour, etc. For most ranches that depend on native bunchgrasses for summer grazing, the period of time these rangelands are most vulnerable to damage from grazing is during the growing season. If we can graze some of these in the fall and reduce the time we graze them while they are actively growing, this is better for the native grasses.”

Many native pastures thrive and improve if rested during the growing season and grazed in fall and winter when plants are mature. It may be possible for cattle to graze these mature stands more heavily and tramp seeds into the ground.

“We need more research on dormant-season grazing, but what’s been done suggests that grazing has minimal impact on the plant community at that time,” says DelCurto. “Cattle utilize decadent plant material and process it, so it’s more readily incorporated into the soil as organic matter. Grazing it off in the fall also reduces chance for wildfires. When feasible, stockmen are doing fall/winter grazing, utilizing protein supplements as needed, and saving money on hay.”

PROTEIN SUPPLEMENT OPTIONS

DelCurto says the strategic use of protein supplements is important, but there is no magic protein or best kind. He favours beef-quality alfalfa hay. He says that even if it’s expensive, producers usually get more for their money with alfalfa than most other protein sources.

He recommends figuring out the cheapest protein per unit, using an example of mature cows needing about two pounds for protein per day. Feeding a low-quality forage with only six per cent protein means each cow needs to eat about 20 pounds per day. If it’s six per cent protein, they are only getting about 1.2 pounds of protein from the forage, so they need an additional 0.8 pounds of protein as supplemental. With optimal supplementation, a 1,200-pound cow would consume two per cent of her bodyweight, or about 24 pounds of dry matter, from the forage itself.

“If you have alfalfa hay that’s 20 per cent protein, or a cake/pellet that’s 30 per cent protein, price it out and see what might be most cost-effective in terms of how much to feed daily to meet the requirement of the cattle,” DelCurto says. “The protein doesn’t have to be fed daily; it can be fed every two or three days.”

DelCurto says feeding more at one time (to average two pounds per day) is actually better when group feeding, making it possible for all the cattle to have a chance at the protein, not just the bossier cows. There is more uniform consumption.

“At our Northern Agricultural Research Center in Havre, we’ve been feeding up to 300 head during winter, and the group consisted of all ages, from yearlings to 13-year-old cows, and for the most part we see uniform feed consumption. The young animals (yearlings, up to four-year-old cows) actually ate the most, while the middle-aged and older cows consumed less supplement. This is totally contrary to what we always believed, but we have a growing data set with salt-limited supplements that show that they work.”

MOLASSES AN ACQUIRED TASTE

DelCurto notes one exception. They found (in multiple studies) that young cows, particularly yearlings, don’t eat molasses blocks very well. Molasses is foreign to them and they have to learn to eat it. Once those yearlings get to be two-year-olds, they are more inclined to eat it, but the yearlings often eat less than the label amount.

In a recent study with a supplement that was primarily canola meal with 25 per cent salt, they found the yearlings ate as much as the older cows. In a two-year trial the yearlings and young cows ate more than the older ones, particularly when weather was cold.

That study was followed with a project using a baked molasses block. The yearling intake was poor because they were not familiar with molasses, and also it was harder to eat. They couldn’t just lick it like a meal, they had to scrape and chew on those blocks.

The winter environment affects nutrient needs of cattle. “Extending grazing is an opportunity to make a farm or ranch more efficient, but at high elevations there may be challenges when grazing stockpiled forage or using native rangelands,” says DelCurto. “When arctic blasts come through and grass gets covered with snow, or the temperatures drop dramatically, those cows require more feed.”

He says in just in the seven years he’s been in Montana, he’s experienced two ‘100-year winter events’ that were really hard on cattle. He remembers a call from a producer after a week of minus 30 F temperatures with wind chill equivalent of minus 50. He was asking how he should feed his cows.

“This is a tough question,” says DelCurto. “We need to bring cattle into winter in the best condition possible so they have some reserve in case we get one of those winters. During a weather event with wind, those cows hunker down (hopefully behind a windbreak) and don’t eat or drink much because it’s just too cold.”

These are things to be prepared for, and try to manage around, but as a general rule cattle can do well on an extended grazing program only fed hay when conditions make grazing impossible. “As the old saying goes — I want cows that work for me, rather than me working for them,” says DelCurto. “But for this to work, you have to provide the right nutrition, and tailor your program to your environment and your cattle.”

He says it is also important to select efficient cattle that work in your environment.

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Some recent work in both Alberta and Saskatchewan has shown that the average wintering cost for a cow is over $2 per day and some operations are over $3. For a 200-day winter, that is $400 and $600 respectively, just to feed one cow.

• Read more: Winter grazing begins before Dec. 1
• Read more: Corn residue can cut winter feeding costs

Put another way, yardage is the investment in fine china, silverware and waiter service when paper plates will do. I am of the firm opinion that yardage kills cow-calf outfits and most of us are better off to invest limited funds in nutrition rather than delivery strategies.

In the first article (Grainews, Jan. 24) we talked a bit about some of the technical aspects of winter grazing. There are a lot of ways to winter graze so I thought it might be worthwhile touching on some of the options along with some of the pros and cons of each. We have tried a lot of things at home and although we continue to experiment, we have evolved a suite of techniques that we use in combination most winters.

Stockpiled forages

Stockpiling means allowing grass to grow and then grazing it through the snow.

• Pros — very low cost, limited labour (may not require cross fencing).
• Cons — have to be very cautious about monitoring cows (not a high-energy diet), access can be difficult with deep or packed snow conditions, requires grazing management.

Swath grazing

This is one of the most common ways to start into winter grazing, and it is a great tool. Swath grazing basically means growing an annual grain crop, swathing it in roughly the mid-dough stage and then grazing the cows on the swaths. There have been some tremendous breakthroughs in swath grazing including recent work on triticale. We use a multi-species swath grazing mix that includes a very heavy seeding rate and usually consists of barley, oats, a legume (alfalfa/hairy vetch) and a winter cereal of either rye or triticale.

• Pros — relatively low cost for seed and field operations; seeding period can be relatively late.
• Cons — may be difficult to access swaths with deep, windswept packed snow. Wet falls can result in losses due to mould. May miss some spring moisture with late seeding. Need to limit access to ensure cattle don’t eat all the heads and run into an energy deficit. May be low in protein. May be some risk of nitrates with early fall frosts.

Rake bunching

Rake bunching is sort of one step past stockpiled forage or swath grazing. In our situation, we use an old dump rake to pull swaths into piles to improve access through deep snow. This has been one of the lowest-cost ways we have found to winter cattle.

• Pros — improves access to feed; feed quality is high.
• Cons — one additional field operation; may need to cross fence to control access.

Corn grazing

Grazing standing corn has become very common in my neighbourhood and is one of the tools we use in winter grazing.

• Pros — High-yield, high-energy crop. No field operations after spraying. Easily accessed through snow. Can provide wind shelter. Can provide a disease break in rotation.
• Cons — Expensive to grow, somewhat risky (long growing season). Requires attention to detail and agronomics. Must be cross fenced

Bale grazing

Bale grazing has become a staple of our winter feeding program. In fact we even use bale grazing on our backgrounders and weaned calves. Basically with bale grazing, the bales are set out in the field ahead of time and are rationed out with electric fencing. In fact on land that we own or rent, we very seldom haul bales, and prefer to fence around them during the winter. Some producers I have met even bale graze with net wrap and leave the wrap on, picking it up in the spring.

• Pros — Import and distribution of nutrients and organic matter on bale-grazing site. Easy access in deep snow. Control over ration quality. Reduced spoilage vs. swath grazing
• Cons — Twine removal. More expensive than swath grazing.

Chaff/straw bunches

Chaff bunching can be done a variety of different ways, however two pretty common ones are to use a buncher at the back of the combine to create straw/chaff piles in the field or to use a chaff wagon to collect and dump chaff in the field after the combine. These can be a good source of feed. We do not have a lot of personal experience with this, since we are strictly cattle and have not found a grain farmer to participate in a project yet, but learned in visiting with several producers who use this as a feed source there is a lot to be gained.

• Pros — Utilizes a byproduct of grain farming. Low cost. Relatively easy access through snow (pile-size dependent). Clean up weed seeds and cycle nutrients in a cropping system.
• Con — May not be a complete ration, particularly for protein.

Silage pile grazing

We have not engaged in silaging on our operation as I could never figure out an economical way to feed it back out (that yardage problem again), however it is a high-quality feed that stores well. This summer I met a couple of producers that are silaging and creating piles in the field and then are using electric fence to control access to the pile and grazing it on the spot. I have added these on my “to be toured” list.

• Pros — High-quality feed that stores well, saves trucking to pit and feeding from pit to field
• Cons — Cost of silage operation. Needs to be supplemented. There might be freezing or pit-face issues (under carving).

Cons can be overcome

These are just a few of the winter grazing options that are being used out there and just a sampling of some of the pros and cons of each. Again, like most things, cons can be managed into pros or at least minimized into smaller issues.

A good example, that many of the systems have in common is the creation of relatively high soil phosphate levels. This is largely because phosphate is a relatively immobile nutrient and is somewhat concentrated in cattle manure. This can be managed around through crop cycles to plants that require a lot of phosphate (corn is a good example) and by doing something as simple as feeding a high-calcium mineral (we have fed as high as 7:1 on perennial swath grazing ground) to balance out the calcium/phosphorus ratio in the diet.

The biggest pro that all of these grazing options have in common is that they reduce yardage costs. Every system does not work equally well for every producer. Some producers in deeper snow country may be more risk averse regarding some of the less costly systems that provide more limited access, and others may be more averse to systems that provide less spring grazing potential.

Others will develop a variety of strategies that work together to get through winter as inexpensively as possible. As always, winter is a tougher season than summer, so a backup plan, supplemental feeds or other risk management strategies are a good idea.

I would be lying if I said everything had always worked perfectly at our place. We have had to deploy backup plans more than once, but we are in a lot better position using winter grazing strategies than without.

The post Several options for winter grazing appeared first on Grainews.

I love grazing cows in the wintertime. I like reducing my labour and cutting my costs. I like free time for spending with kids or writing Grainews articles. Truth be told, I even like riding saddle horses in the cold, as a lot of our terrain is not conducive to any other sort of cow-checking or gathering technology.

While we may have pushed the limits a bit at home, I have often been told that what we do at home will not work here, with “here” representing a variety of locations. This is particularly interesting to me since we live just southwest of Lloydminster, Alta. and have been accused of having weekly chinooks and mild winters. Fortunately, I also live just southwest of Lloydminster, Sask., so most winters are much more difficult weatherwise.

This is a bit in jest but it illustrates the next point very nicely. The reality is that winter grazing is both possible and impossible, and that the difference between these two extremes has nothing to do with Mother Nature.

I have been lucky to get to know a lot of winter graziers from around the country and the world and some have much less forgiving climates than we do. Like most things in life the answer depends more on our own attitudes than on the practicality of the issue. Historical texts report that many bison migrated north to the North Saskatchewan River to spend the winter, and I know that there are quite a few ruminants in Wood Buffalo National Park that live farther north than here. With that said, there are a few things that I think can make or break a winter grazing program.

Forage

One of the primary jobs of any cattle producer is to grow or obtain forage and then ration it out to their animals. There is a wide variety of ways to accomplish this, ranging all the way from set stock grazing, to silaging and delivering forage in a dry lot with a machine. The fundamental point here is that as managers, one of our most basic tasks is to ensure a forage supply for our livestock. If we cannot produce forage or find a source, winter grazing will be tough.

Forage can come in a lot of forms, stubble, chaff piles, swaths, stockpiled grass, bales, silage or standing corn — are all examples. Since access to forage may be made more difficult through snow accumulation, volume and availability is critical. You cannot expect cows to winter graze on a pasture where grass is less than six inches tall.

It is also key to test forages and build a ration regardless of the delivery method we choose to feed our cows. For pasture or stockpiled grazing, take a clipping from various areas of the pasture and test the feed. Standing corn should be sampled across the field as a whole plant. Swath grazing can use grab samples from various locations around the field. Even with winter grazing we still may need to supplement in order to meet nutritional requirements.

We always use our samples to build a ration, even in a grazing situation. As an example, on land that has been continuously swath grazed, it often happens that phosphorus levels rise and a high calcium mineral must be fed to maintain the proper CA:P ratio of 1:1 to 2:1 in the diet.

Weather

Winter is winter for a reason. It can be chilly and we need to appreciate what we are asking a cow to accomplish as the temperature drops. Wind protection, forage quality — especially in the form of energy, body condition and stage of production are all key factors in dealing with winter weather. A fat cow with a windbreak can make do with a lot lower-quality forage than a skinny cow that may be lactating in a windstorm.

While we can still access forage through grazing, there are points where we may need to supplement cows. One trick that can be used to help cows utilize lower-quality forage is to provide a protein supplement to the diet. This added protein can boost the cow’s intake so she can consume more total energy and maintain condition in cold weather. A protein supplement can also provide a good opportunity to check cows and ensure that balanced mineral nutrition is being delivered.

Stage of production

A cow has a variety of energy requirements over the course of a production year. If we were to split the year into four quarters, her peak requirement occurs during the three months after calving. She is recovering from calving and producing milk for her calf. Months four to six are also pretty energy intense as her calf continues to grow and demand more milk. If the calf is weaned around six months of age, then months six to nine are her annual holiday. The cow is not milking and is carrying a very small fetus.

In months nine to 12 the cow is preparing for calving and carrying a rapidly growing fetus, as well as mobilizing body stores to calve and start milking. If your production schedule is such that months six to nine are occurring in midwinter, it is possible to stretch the winter grazing envelope since this coincides with the lowest energy requirement for the cow.

It is important to note here even if they are not lactating, high-milk cows will have a significantly greater energy requirement than cows with less milk production. This is in large part due to increased gut/organ mass associated with milk production and the metabolic cost of maintaining these organs.

Rationing and waste

One concern I hear a lot with winter grazing scenarios is the issue of feed waste. This is an interesting one where I believe the answer lies with the individual manager. The issue or perception of waste can be framed a lot of different ways. Leaving organic matter and manure out in the field can actually stimulate future productivity, however there are concerns over how much is too much and does the waste offset the cost of feed delivery.

This is confounded by the issue of yardage (fuel and tractors and time) that we seldom discuss as a waste and sometimes don’t even see as a cost. There is some good work from Alberta showing the waste from processing bales on the ground may actually be higher than bale grazing.

Rationing forage in the field is a bit of an acquired art form, but the reality is that if you want to reduce waste you can use smaller paddock sizes to force cleanup before feed quality declines.

In other words, if you have a month on a paddock, the animals will eat all the grain in the first week, and straw for the next three. If we ration into smaller bite-sized paddocks, cattle can eat grain and fibre over the entire three or five days or even a week. Supplementing at the end of a paddock can assist in final cleanup of the less desirable feed. For a lot of managers, the instructions “don’t move the fence” are extremely difficult to adhere to, but it will reduce waste.

Checking cows

I know good managers check their cows, but winter is not a “turn ’em out” season. It is extremely important to monitor cattle nutrition and health on an ongoing basis including body condition and other indicators of performance.

A backup plan is essential, even if that plan is simply moving to a different type of grazing (eg: stockpiled grass to standing corn). The price for pushing the limits is a degree of vigilance in making sure that the cattle are taken care of within those limits. Our experience has been overwhelmingly positive in that the cattle are much healthier in our extensive system than in a confinement feeding system. This includes backgrounded calves as well as the cow herd.

Managing the whole system

How winter grazing works for your operation will vary. For example, if you are calving early it is not recommended you have your cows out in the middle of nowhere on the first of February, so some of the more extended options may fit differently than herds calving in June, as an example.

The one thing in common between every winter grazier I know is the winter grazing season starts with planning and growing forage long before December 1. To be successful, winter grazing has to be part of an overall plan, rather than an afterthought or addendum to the program. The savings to winter grazing can be tremendous.

Recent work from Agri-Profits and WBDC work show the wintering cost for a cow to average over $2 per day. By winter grazing we can readily cut that number in half — over 200 days of saving $1 per cow day amounts to double the long-term profit in most cow-calf operations. Again our experience shows that savings estimate to be extremely conservative. I suspect many producers have daily wintering costs well over $3, if they are honest with their valuations for feed, time and equipment costs.

Winter grazing represents a tremendous opportunity to add value to a program by reducing yardage costs. The more intense the feeding program at present, the more savings can be achieved. It does take time to get comfortable with winter grazing, so go slow and seek out mentors to help you get started.

There are some good publications out there as well. Try a Google search for “Year Round Grazing 365.” Hopefully the dramatic reduction in workload and increase in profits to achieve the same results will drive you to push the envelope even further.

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Assessing costs by the numbers

The winter feeding period for beef cattle in Western Canada is typically 200 days per year, making it costly to supply feed nutrients to pregnant beef cows. The cost for winter grazing cows, including yardage, may range from $0.70 to $1.40 per day, which is substantially lower than feeding stored forages — with no extra expenses related to corral cleaning, manure handling and facilities maintenance.

Selecting grazing corn hybrids

Approximately 65 per cent of the energy source in corn can be found in the grain. That means it’s vital for producers to select a hybrid with good ear production for grazing corn.

Producers should also be sure they’re selecting hybrid that are best suited to the corn heat unit ratings in their area. Ideally they’ll want the crop to freeze at the R5 stage, roughly the same time they would typically silage it. This will help to increase palatability.

Contributing to herd health

Older or younger cows may need time to adapt to a winter grazing system. Producers will need to know and manage the cow age by limiting winter grazing to their main cow herd.

Animals see no negative health impact, as they remain walking and physically active during the winter months, when they would traditionally be less active in a corral. Studies have shown that fall and winter grazing animals can result in improved cow body condition, postpone the onset of weight loss, and decrease costs.

In addition, winter systems can have a positive effect on nutrient cycling and soil health of the grazed land. Once the ground is frozen, producers will see fewer losses from trampling feed into the mud, and soil compaction remains a non-issue, as long as the herd is removed from the field before spring thaw.

For more information about choosing grazing corn hybrids, growers should talk to their local seed dealer.

Breeanna Kelln is an area agronomist with DuPont Pioneer.

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