Storm in the swamp

[shtferbrains]

I had a couple of experiences with cows on snow.
Only time I ever had a phone call at night that I had cows out.
They seem to go through the fence to get to any possible water source that you didn't even know was there. Once that starts your moving them asap.
For me the problems far outweighed the benefits of not having to maintain water.

[Sheepwheat]

Yeah was just wondering. When the snow comes, I breathe a sigh of relief for watering season is over.

[littledoggie]

Ugh. 10" of snow here overnight. SW Peace Country. Lots of wind too. Too soon for winter in my mind.

[littledoggie]

The dugouts froze up fast here. A bit of a panic to get the cows away from them. Worst thing ever - animals through the ice.

[poorboy]

My cows have used snow as a water source for 60 years on my farm. Works just fine as long as its not crusted too thick.

Cows graze different areas if they don’t have to keep walking back to the same area to drink.

[Guest]

Gross out west as well. Perfect day for the pressure switch to die in the water system 12 miles from home and to have electrical connections corrode up and fail in a different waterer. Then the boiler wasn’t working in the shop as the condensate drain line was plugged with dead flies.

Now that’s out of the way feeding can begin………….. hopefully no more surprises or headaches. 🍀

you're still young lol
just wait , its gets less and less fun every year
but seriously , you guys with animals are the salt of the earth

[Happytrails]

Cattle need water ; as the heat loss saps too much of their energy melting the snow when they ingest it. Hard on horses too…

That's debateable Tom. When a cow drinks 50 lbs of water she has to warm it up to body temperature. I've watched cows grazing snow. They only have to melt it a mouthfull at a time.

[TOM4CWB]

That's debateable Tom. When a cow drinks 50 lbs of water she has to warm it up to body temperature. I've

watched cows grazing snow. They only have to melt it a mouthfull at a time.

When animals melt snow, energy is expended to melt that snow.

Feeding efficiency, rate of gain, maintenance of body weight… are better for animals.

Feed is expensive. Burning calories to melt snow and bring the water to body temperature… costs calories.

The colder temperatures are, the higher the energy requirement.

Obviously, less stress is better.

Cheers

[Sheepwheat]

The wild ruminants and our sheep are bred in fall and are building babies through winter without liquid water. That’s why I asked about cattle, because the sheep maintain condition just fine. We’ve had horses for twenty four years and they have never had winter water.

I have read a lot of studies done on winter watering for livestock and most say it’s fine, but not lots of people do it in practice.

Haha, even a few pigs we over wintered last year, stopped drinking water suddenly one day. Bang, and they quit. I was worried about them. I would a carry them water, and they refused it. I thought there was something wrong with them. I finally gave up because it’s no point to carry water two hundred yards, and have it never consumed.

Those hogs grew all through winter, and never needed any liquid water. It was their choice, not mine. I never would have believed it…

[woodland]

you're still young lol
just wait , its gets less and less fun every year
but seriously , you guys with animals are the salt of the earth

I despise winter…………….. actually it’s just the cold, snowy, windy, dark all the time part of it that I don’t like. Otherwise it’s great😎



The cows move much easier than in July with grass everywhere. Especially this pair that must’ve hid in the bush the other day when we moved the herd. They followed the bale wherever I went today😉