Feeding in the afternoon/evening is also a good strategy to help them stay warm during winter nights. Understandable that it’s not some people’s preference of time to feed though.
Does anyone else here just have free feed available? Or even straight bale grazing/swath grazing/corn grazing with no supplemental feed taken to them? Since I have a tiny herd they just have bales available full time, as you can see. Although they do get a few sleds of other hay sometimes, in the afternoon, but I can’t control their feeding time to help try and keep them warmer in the coldest part of the day. Somehow they swapped themselves to it anyway. Curious if others noticed that trend?
In the cold snap the entire herd would go to bed pretty much at sunset. 6:30-7:00 they’d move into the corrals, have a big drink (so this is when I needed to fill the trough up last), and then they would bed down. They would not get out of bed until around 11-12 the next day! They might be up and drinking but they’d be suntanning and cudding and back laying down. Then midday they’d move to the bales to eat. They fuelled themselves with digestion heat for those cold -50 nights. Now that it’s warmed out they’re not nearly so scheduled. There’s a couple up and eating at 8, a few just sleeping nearby, a few over on the bedding pack.... It was probably just the warmest part of the days for them to go eat which is why their schedules tightened up, but if I had been limit feeding them in the AM they would have got up to eat no matter what when obviously it’s not their preference when left alone.
Cant say I’ve ever noticed the ones close to calving choosing to eat later in the day though. I’ll have to pay attention and see. I don’t have high expectations they would though!
Does anyone else here just have free feed available? Or even straight bale grazing/swath grazing/corn grazing with no supplemental feed taken to them? Since I have a tiny herd they just have bales available full time, as you can see. Although they do get a few sleds of other hay sometimes, in the afternoon, but I can’t control their feeding time to help try and keep them warmer in the coldest part of the day. Somehow they swapped themselves to it anyway. Curious if others noticed that trend?
In the cold snap the entire herd would go to bed pretty much at sunset. 6:30-7:00 they’d move into the corrals, have a big drink (so this is when I needed to fill the trough up last), and then they would bed down. They would not get out of bed until around 11-12 the next day! They might be up and drinking but they’d be suntanning and cudding and back laying down. Then midday they’d move to the bales to eat. They fuelled themselves with digestion heat for those cold -50 nights. Now that it’s warmed out they’re not nearly so scheduled. There’s a couple up and eating at 8, a few just sleeping nearby, a few over on the bedding pack.... It was probably just the warmest part of the days for them to go eat which is why their schedules tightened up, but if I had been limit feeding them in the AM they would have got up to eat no matter what when obviously it’s not their preference when left alone.
Cant say I’ve ever noticed the ones close to calving choosing to eat later in the day though. I’ll have to pay attention and see. I don’t have high expectations they would though!
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