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Many factors will influence your winter feeding program, or whether you need to provide any additional feed during winter. Some of these factors include climate and grass growth, whether your pastures snow under and can’t be grazed, the type of cattle you raise, and your own conditions—whether your ranch is a desert range operation, or situated in an area with a mild, moist climate where grass may continue to grow during part of the winter, or irrigated pasture, etc. and whether you grow alfalfa or meadow hay, or utilize crop aftermath, etc. It’s generally most profitable to match the cattle to your feed sources rather than try to create a feeding program to fit cattle that won’t do well on their own in your particular environment.
To help cows maintain health and body condition during winter, vaccinations should be kept up to date, parasite populations assessed, and the cattle dewormed and deloused if necessary. You don’t want parasites robbing them of nutrition when they need it most.

Adjust the Feed for Cold Weather
How much hay or supplement a cow needs in winter will depend on weather conditions, age of the cow, her body condition, available pasture or crop residue (quality and quantity) whether cows are still nursing their calves or are dry, or ready to calve again soon, or if they calved in the fall and need extra nutrition in order to milk and breed back again. Some herds will do very well through fall and winter on good native pasture without any other feed except a salt/mineral supplement, especially if they are dry that time of year and not nursing calves. If snow covers the grass or weather gets quite cold, however, they may need hay. Having cattle at pasture through fall and winter is healthiest for cattle, rather than congregating them by feeding hay. When they are spread out on large pastures they are not exposed to as much fecal contamination; their intestinal tracts don’t get such a buildup of E. coli and Clostridium perfringens, for instance, both of which can be transmitted later to their newborn calves.

Some kinds of dryland bunch grasses, grown on fertile soils, will meet all the nutrient requirements of a dry cow except salt, as long as the grass isn’t too dry. In a drought situation the grass may be short on protein and phosphorus. “Tame” or irrigated pastures or crop residues always lose some of their nutrient value once they dry up or freeze, and cattle will generally need some supplemental feed (hay, silage, grain or a protein supplement and mineral mix) to complement that type of forage. Salt should always be provided, since this is the mineral most lacking in forages. In many geographic situations the forage may also be lacking in copper or selenium. You need to figure out the mineral content of your forages and have your cattle on a good mineral supplement program if there’s any question about adequate levels of important trace minerals.

As fall moves into winter and colder weather, it’s wise to sort your cow herd into groups according to age and/or body condition. If you have some higher quality pasture, save it for the heifers and thin cows and let the majority of the herd winter on lesser quality pasture. Mature cows should not be thin if you’ve selected for efficient cattle and they have access to adequate pasture, unless you’ve been in a serious drought. Cows that need extra feed in order to maintain body condition and stay in the herd (under normal conditions) are not the kind of cows you want. But occasionally you may have a cow with a problem or some older cows you are hoping to get one more calf from (and then graft their calf on another cow, or wean the calf early so you can get weight back on the cow and sell her in an early summer market). Those special needs cows should be wintered with your heifers.

If your pasture will be gone or snowed under during winter, and you’ll be feeding hay, having the cattle in several groups will be most effective, since their needs are different and they can be fed accordingly. Your weaned calves, such as replacement heifers, need the highest quality feed. Next would be the pregnant heifers and the 2 year olds that just weaned off their first calves. The 2 year old winter is a critical time; these young cows are still growing and have probably been drawn down in body condition while nursing their first calves, and are pregnant again. If they go into the winter a little thin, they need to catch up in body condition so they’ll be able to give birth to healthy calves and rebreed on time.

Mature, dry cows can get by on lesser quality forage, whether it’s pasture or hay. They don’t need as much protein, nor as high an energy level, because they are not growing nor needing to gain weight. If your cattle are in separate groups, you can feed the young or thin ones for growth/weight gain without overfeeding the rest of the herd. Feeding all the cattle extra (or using up your best pastures too soon with the whole herd) can be costly, and the young/thin ones may still not get as much as they need, since the older, bossier cows tend to eat more than their share of any hay or protein supplement.

If weather is cold or stormy, cattle will need more total nutrients, especially energy, to maintain body heat. The necessary energy can be adequately supplied by forages since the fermentation breakdown of roughage in the rumen produces heat. If cattle are not fed additional energy, they will rob body fat to keep warm, and lose weight. The extra energy needed can be supplied by feeding a little hay to cattle on pasture, or increasing the hay ration. During extremely cold weather, they should be given all the hay they will clean up, or a protein supplement on dry pastures—to encourage them to eat more. As long as the protein level in their diet is adequate, they can process/ferment sufficient roughage to provide the energy and body heat needed.

Importance of Fall Nutrition
Stockmen often underestimate the importance of adequate nutrition in the fall, not paying enough attention to whether cows are losing or gaining weight before winter. According to Ron Skinner, a Montana veterinarian and seed stock producer, probably 70 percent of the open cows in Montana are the result of the previous inadequate fall nutrition rather than what they are fed in the spring before and during breeding. Fall feed and body condition play a large role in a cow’s ability to have a healthy calf and feed that calf properly and breed back again after calving. If cows get behind in the fall, not only in body weight but in important trace minerals, this may have a longer impact than people realize.

Cows always need adequate, balanced diets in the fall, which may merely mean adding a trace mineral supplement to native pasture, or a little good hay or protein supplement if the feed becomes too dry, or feeding hay if the grass becomes depleted or snowed under. If the cow is deficient in protein or phosphorus through fall and winter, for instance, she won’t be able to rebreed on time after she calves again.

Closely monitor body nutrition of cattle as they go through fall and winter, to know if their pasture is adequate or if you are feeding enough. Then if cows start to lose weight before calving, you’ll be aware of it in time to correct the situation by feeding hay to supplement the pasture, or to increase the hay ration if weather turns colder.

Late Winter Nutrition
During the third trimester, and especially during the final 60 days of gestation, the cow’s need for energy and nutrients increases as her fetus is growing fastest. This is the most crucial time during her pregnancy, to make sure you don’t shortchange her on important nutrients. Make sure she’s on a balanced diet, with adequate trace minerals, and receiving enough energy to maintain body condition. The last thing you want is for her to be slipping a little in weight just before she calves.

If you calve early, during cold weather, or in the changeable stormy weather at the end of winter, take special care to make sure cows have adequate nutrition. Don’t overdo it, however, especially on protein, or cows may milk too well for their young calves, creating health issues in the calves such as enterotoxemia. Many ranchers who calve early have discovered the hard way that it’s safest to keep cows on a good general ration such as high quality grass hay until the calves are about a month old, and then gradually add more protein to the diet (such as alfalfa hay or a protein supplement) if the grass pastures are not yet started. Stockmen who start feeding a high protein feed like high quality alfalfa when the calves are very young often run into problems with scours or may lose calves from acute toxic infection with C. perfringens type C or D.

How much feed a cow needs during early lactation will depend on how much milk she is producing, and upon the weather—how cold or wet. If a cow is shortchanged on energy during cold/wet weather and can’t supply her needs for lactation and body warmth, she’ll lose weight and have trouble rebreeding on schedule.

Body Condition
Body condition is generally rated on a score of 1 to 9 (the Henneke Body Condition Scoring System) with 1 being emaciated and 9 being obese. Research has shown that it’s best to keep cows at a score of 5 or 6 for good health and fertility, though some crossbred cows (due to hybrid vigor) will still be fertile and productive at body score 4.

Start paying close attention to body condition of cows through the fall, and early winter, especially during the last 3 to 4 months before the start of your calving season. Then you have a chance to adjust your feed if necessary, or sort the thinner ones into a better pasture, if some start losing weight due to cold weather. A 3 year study in South Dakota showed that cows with higher body condition score (5 or higher) return to heat sooner the next breeding season and are also more likely to become pregnant when bred. Thin cows (body condition score 3 or less) have the poorest chance of getting pregnant. If a cow lost weight through winter, and then has the added stress and energy drain of lactation after calving, she may not cycle.

Several other studies have shown that average body condition (score 5) at calving and at the beginning of breeding season results in highest pregnancy rates. Many factors can affect the reproductive success of a beef herd, however. As a general rule, cows in cold climates need more flesh covering during winter than do cows in warm climates.

Thin cows are at risk for calving and rebreeding problems, but obese cows may also have trouble. If a cow is too fat she stores a lot of fat in her pelvic area (which can cause dystocia at calving) and she will also tire more readily during labor than a cow in ideal body condition. Cows at body condition score 8 or 9 often need more help at calving, and also have more incidence of retained placenta.

Fall Calving
Fall calving works well for some ranchers but won’t work for others, due to climate and extra feed costs. Cows that go into winter with calves at side need more feed than dry cows. If you have some good pasture that doesn’t snow under, fall calving can be a very practical situation, but if your winter pastures are dry and short on protein, or snow-covered, it can be costly to feed the lactating cow through winter. Dry grass does not contain enough protein and other nutrients for lactation. After calving, a beef cow’s energy requirements increase 17 to 50 percent, depending on how much milk she’s producing. Inadequate feed during early lactation can reduce weaning weights of calves by 20 to 50 pounds, and may reducing conception rate of cows by as much as 25 percent.