Top tips for cattle management indoors

As November gets underway, the rate that cattle are housed for winter will be increasing at pace. Feeding silage and concentrate will increase production costs, so high levels of weight gain and milk production are needed to justify the expense of winter feed. When it comes to indoor management of cattle over the winter, outlined here are some tips to keep in mind.

1 Split meal between morning and evening

Offer 2kg/day to weanlings and young stores for the first week indoors, split evenly between morning and evening.

Weanlings that don’t come forward for meal should be treated immediately for respiratory problems. Picking up such problems early increases the chances of a swift recovery.

2 Keep forage fresh

Fresh forage fed on a daily basis increases dry matter intakes, thereby improving weight gain and milk production. It will also stop silage heating and limit spoilage along the face of the clamp.

Offering a two-to-three-day silage allocation saves time, but intakes will start to drop by the second or third day after forage is fed out.

More often than not, you will end up scrapping out waste forage from the feed passage. Always remove waste silage before fresh fodder is offered.

3 Keep silage pushed up to cattle

Cattle intakes will increase if silage is pushed up to the feed barrier at regular intervals. Think about when you enter a shed and kick a bit of silage in, animals will rise and eat

Make a point of pushing up forage three to four times daily as it will help increase cattle performance.

4 Water

Clean water is crucial in winter feeding. As a rule of thumb, cattle on a high-concentrate diet will drink around five litres per 1kg of meal consumed.

For 600kg bulls on ad-lib meal, that’s 60 to 70 litres of water per day. If water is not clean, animals drink less and concentrate intakes can suffer, reducing weight gain on a high-cost diet.

5 Pay attention to cattle dung

The dung from cattle can tell you an awful lot about diet, feed management and animal health.

For cattle on a home-mixed rations or loose blends, keep an eye for undigested cereal grains in dung.

Loose dung which is pale in colour, and forms bubbles when passed, is a good indicator of too much starch in the diet, causing acidosis.

Cattle kicking at their belly is another sign of acidosis. Feeding more fibre will alleviate this problem, as will the inclusion of a buffer or yeast product.

Dung can also be extremely firm, holding its shape on impact with a solid floor. This is a sign of too much fibre and is associated with lower protein diets. Both scenarios will reduce cattle performance.

Dung should be reasonably firm when passed, but generally change to a porridge-like consistency on impact with the floor.

1 Feed and lying space

Cattle can be easily overstocked when housed, severely curtailing weight gain. As far as possible, house cattle based on their final liveweight prior to slaughter or target sale weight next spring.

Take a pen of eight bulls weighing 450kg at housing and gaining 1.75kg/day. That’s a gain of 14kg per day for the group, 98kg per week and 420kg per month.

That is the equivalent of adding an extra bull to the pen every four to five weeks. Watch cattle in their pens. If all animals cannot lie at the same time, they are most likely overstocked.

Allow 2.75m2 to 3m2 for cattle with a finishing weight of 700kg to 750kg liveweight on slats, rising to 4m2 on straw bedding.

Also, finishing cattle should have at least 600mm of space at feed rails to access forage and concentrate. Weanlings and mid-weight stores require 2m2 to 2.5m2 on slats, rising to 4m2 on straw.

2 Clipping cattle

Clip cattle along the back, head and tail to keep animals cool, reducing the risk of pneumonia in weanlings and young stores.

Clip cows also, particularly the tail to keep udders clean and reduce the risk of mastitis.

3 Parasite control

Parasite control depends on the cattle type. Finishing cattle and stores that will be sold next spring need to thrive from day one of housing, simply to justify meal feeding.

Autumn calving cows that are parasite-free will have higher fertility and milk yield. Treat these groups for fluke around two to three weeks post-housing. Weigh cattle first for accurate dosing rates.

Use a product that targets the parasite at the early immature stage, paying attention to withdrawal dates for finishing animals.

In spring calving suckler to weanling herds, with just dry cows over winter, dosing can be delayed for eight to 12 weeks post-housing. Choose a product targeting mature fluke in this case.

Lice is another parasite to treat and in many instances, cattle require a follow-up treatment. Make sure all cattle in the same shed are treated for lice at the same time.

Lungworm is the other major parasite to treat in young cattle, but allow animals to settle in the shed before dosing.

Calves cough up dead lungworm, so don’t worry if they are coughing for a week to 10 days post-treatment.

4 Scanning cows

If spring calving cows have yet to be scanned, housing makes this task easier. Penning cows based on predicted calving date allows better control over feeding and cow condition.

It is also more cost efficient once precalving minerals are offered, as close up animals can get priority with minerals held off later cows until six weeks before their calving date .

5 Correcting cow body condition

Now is the time to correct body condition (BCS) in February, March and April calving cows. While condition scoring is subjective, aim for BCS 3 and maintain over winter.

BCS 3 means the ribs are covered, there is flesh around the tail head and bones can only be felt with moderate pressure applied by hand.

Moving from BCS 2 to BCS 3 is the equivalent of gaining 60kg to 80kg of liveweight, which at a gain of 1kg/day will take eight to 12 weeks.

Thin cows should be grouped together and offered ad-lib forage. Fat cows should also be penned together with silage restricted.

Feed forage daily and push silage in regularly to increase intakes.

Don’t forget to clean water troughs regularly.

Ensure cattle have plenty of lying space.

Clip animals and treat parasites.

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