Page 27 - MWC 03-11-2021

Providing Extra Energy in Bad Weather By Dean Kreager, Licking County Agriculture and Natural Resources
The Midwest Cattleman · March 11, 2021 · P27

As I write this, we have had tial. What we sometimes forget perature an animal needs water shedding properties of
some snow and freezing tem- is these tables do not account to have additional energy to wool, sheep are not as severe-
peratures along with a healthy for non-typical weather condi- maintain body heat and normal ly affected by rain as livestock
dose of mud, but the worst is tions. A sunny day with no wind body functions. For cattle with with wet hair coats.
yet to come. Some graziers may and temperatures near zero are a dry average winter hair coat, A rule of thumb for the in-
still be utilizing stockpiled for- better tolerated than a muddy the LCT is 32° F. If the hair coat crease in energy need is, for
ages but many of us have tran- 40°F day with blowing rain. is wet the LCT increases to 59° each 1°F wind chill value below
sitioned to feeding hay, baleage, The temperature below F. Goats and horses have values the LCT, the animal will need
or silage. Hopefully, we know which an animal’s body begins similar to cattle. For sheep with an additional 1% increase in
the quality of our forage and to lose its normal function is 2.5 inches of wool, their LCT is TDN (Total Digestible Nutri-
the needs of the livestock that called lower critical tempera- 28° F. For freshly shorn sheep, ents, i.e., energy). With a wet
will be consuming it. Maybe we ture (LCT). Below this tem- the LCT is 50° F. Due to the continued on page 33
have even planned for supple-
mental energy sources when
needed. This is all great until
mother nature throws a mon-
key wrench into things. Rain,
snow, wind, and mud can de-
stroy our best laid plans.
There are charts that tell us
the nutrient requirements of all
types of livestock during differ-
ent stages of their lives. These
help us know which forages are
best suited to which animals
and when a supplement needs
to be added to maintain perfor-
mance and reach genetic poten-

RE-WARMING
continued from page 26
of ethanol. (Source: Robinson and
Young. Univ. of Alberta. J. Anim.
Sci., 1988.)
When immersing these baby
calves, do not forget to support
the head above the water to avoid
drowning the calf that you are try-
ing to save. Also, it is important to
dry the hair coat before the calf is
returned to cold winter air. If the
calf does not nurse the cow with-
in the first few hours of life (6 or
less), then tube feeding of a colos-
trum replacer will be necessary to
allow the calf to achieve passive
immunity by consuming the im-
munoglobulins in the colostrum
replacer.
Not every calf born in cold
weather needs the warm water
bath. Most will survive if moved
to an enclosed barn or calving shed
with adequate bedding or insula-
tion such as heavy blankets. Be
careful if heat lamps are used and
be certain that straw bedding can-
not be set on fire.
The warm water bath described
above is apparently a meth-
od that can save a few severely
stressed calves that would be less
likely to survive or be weakened
if more conventional re-warm-
ing methods are used. With 2021
input costs, saving every calf is im-
portant to the bottom line.

OSU