On the vast majority of cattle farms, the grazing season is over and stock have been housed for winter feeding.

Where cattle have been brought indoors and now settled in pens, the daily routine will revolve around feeding and bedding.

But there are other aspects of management to keep in mind, some of which will need regular attention. Other factors are less prominent but are nonetheless important to monitor.

Outlined are 10 things to consider with indoor management of cattle during the winter housing period.

1 Lying and feed space

Pay attention to cattle behaviour in group pens. Are all cattle able to lie at the same time or are there also a couple of animals standing?

All animals should also be able to access the feed at the feed face, particularly when feeding meal to lactating cows, stores and finishing cattle.

If cattle cannot all lie at the same time, it is a good sign they are overstocked in a pen. This will restrict growth rates and, given the cost of concentrate, you do not want to be feeding meal to cattle without getting an economic return.

On 100% slatted flooring, the typical suckler cow around 700kg liveweight will need 2.5m2 to 3m2 of lying space post-weaning. On a bedded floor, lying space increases to 4m2 to 5m2 for cows with a calf at foot.

Weanlings and mediumweight store cattle will require 2m2 to 2m2 on slats, rising to 4m2 on straw bedding.

Space at the feed rail should be around 500mm per cow when silage is fed ad-lib, rising to 700mm if fodder access is restricted.

Finishing cattle need around 600mm to 700mm of head space on a forage and high concentrate diet. Weanlings and light stores will require around 300mm to 350mm on a silage and concentrate diet.

2 Is there a strong smell of ammonia in sheds?

When you walk in to the shed, pay attention to your surroundings. A strong smell of ammonia and damp, or humid conditions are signs of poor airflow. In such sheds, cattle tend to be excessively dirty, with a damp coat.

Other signs of poor airflow are cobwebs accumulating on side sheets, lights etc and moisture staining on roof timbers and tin.

Improving the airflow is not just about increasing the inlet areas. The outlet along the ridge of the roof also needs to be altered.

3 Clean water troughs

Drinking troughs are arguably the most overlooked piece of feeding equipment on many suckler farms.

Every time you scrape out the old, rejected silage, make a point to clean out the water trough. Cows in milk need to drink 40 to 60 litres per day.

Finishing cattle can drink five to six litres for every 1kg of meal consumed. Dirty water will greatly limit feed intakes, driving down performance.

4 Watching cows that are sucking others

One of the biggest scourges for any farmer is a cow that sucks other cows when housed. In a spring-calving herd, this stop a cow from drying off properly as well as robbing milk from the calf in an autumn-calving setup. It can also cause cows to shed body condition.

5 Natural light

Plenty of natural light in cattle sheds will discourage parasites such as lice and ringworm from spreading. Installing good LED lighting inside sheds is the next best alternative.

Parasites and disease love dark, humid conditions in which they can rapidly multiply. So the more light and fresh air entering a shed, the better.

6 Pay attention to cattle dung

Keep an eye to cattle as they pass fresh dung. It can tell you quite a bit about animal health and the diet you are feeding.

For example, where cattle are eating meals, mainly loose blended rations with a high cereal content, check that grains are not passing through the animal undigested.

If the dung is very loose, has a bubble or froth-like, greyish appearance, it is a good indication of acidosis from having too much starch in the diet and insufficient fibre. Cattle will also be kicking their stomach with the back legs.

Dung that remains in a solid state on impact with a solid floor is a sign of a high-fibre diet that is low in protein.

7 Clipping cattle

Clipping cattle along the back, head and tail is recommended to keep animals clean and reduce problems with lice. This task may need to be repeated midwinter as hair will regrow.

Cattle struggle to regulate body temperature. Clipping will help to keep animals cool in a shed environment, reducing the risk of pneumonia in weanlings and young stores.

Include mature cows in the clipping routine. Clipping the tail will keep the udder clean, reducing the risk of mastitis.

8 Lice control

Most farmers will treat cattle for lice shortly after housing, often with a product that targets fluke at the same time. However, lice will often need a follow-up treatment midway through winter.

There are two types of lice that affect cattle. One has a biting action, the other has a sucking action. Make sure the product used targets both types of lice.

9 Keeping forage fresh

Fresh silage will encourage cattle to eat more, increasing intakes and thereby improving animal performance.

Feeding enough silage to last 24 hours is a better option than filling the passage with a two- or three-day fodder allocation.

Silage is made in anaerobic conditions, so once air is re-introduced after feeding out, it will begin to spoil, albeit at differing rates.

Silage with a high pH will heat and spoil at a faster rate and can be easily identified by a foul, ammonia-like smell.

Feeding too big of a silage allocation will increase the amount of waste forage that has to be scraped out.

10 Weighing cattle regularly

The weigh scales do not lie and running cattle over the bridge every month or every second month will tell you exactly how good your indoor management is and if there is a problem to address.

Healthy store cattle on a good-quality silage-only diet will typically gain 0.3kg to 0.5kg/day.

If weight gain is not on target, there is likely to be issues with housing space, airflow or parasites like lice and corrective can be taken.

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