Fine Tuning Your Winter Feeding Programs

By Gene Schmitz
MU Extension Livestock Specialist

Many articles on winter-feeding programs for beef cows highlight the need to forage test the hay supply. 

Other articles focus on describing body condition scoring (BCS) the cowherd.  How do these two topics overlap to provide a daily scorecard of how your cowherd is performing on the ration you are providing?

A quick refresher on BCS is in order, not to insult anyone’s intelligence, but to set the stage for monitoring the winter-feeding program.

Body condition scoring beef cattle is a 1 to 9 scale with 1 being emaciated and 9 being obese.  Our target calving BCS for mature beef cows is 5 to 6.  This keeps our herd on target for a BCS of 5 at the start of the breeding season.

When evaluating an animal, a BCS of 5 means the ribs and backbone are not visible, but fat deposits around the base of the tail head are not present.  Personally, when I begin to see fat deposits around the tail head, I score those animals a 6.

Now is a good time to evaluate the BCS of your herd.  Why?  If body condition needs to be added before calving, we are running out of time to accomplish that goal.  From a dietary perspective, calories add body condition, and concentrated sources of calories are provided by grain and grain by-products.

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Consider the following scenario.  To develop an example winter feeding program, I used a hay test received in the office to determine forage quality of my hay supply.  Total digestible nutrients (TDN) of the hay was 51% and crude protein tested 8.5%.  My estimated calving date was March 15.

Let’s now bring in the aspect of body condition at calving.  My target BCS at calving was 5.5.  If my current BCS is 5.5, I need very little in the way of additional energy, approximately 2 pounds of corn will maintain that level of condition on my cow herd, provided there are very few days of extreme weather conditions.

If my current BCS is 5.0, my goal is to add some condition prior to calving, so my corn supplementation rate jumps to about 4 pounds per day.

If my current BCS is 4.5, I need to add one full BCS before calving, and that further increases my corn supplementation rate to approximately 6 pounds per day.

No additional protein was necessary in any of these scenarios.

Take the time now to make an honest evaluation of the body condition of your cowherd.  Sometimes, it is helpful to have another set of eyes evaluate your herd.  Armed with current hay test information and BCS information, a cost-effective winter-feeding program can be developed to meet your herd’s nutritional demands.  The performance of that feeding program can be monitored by on-going observation of the herd’s condition, and adjustments can be made as necessary.

If you have questions or would like assistance with hay testing, interpretation of hay test results, body condition scoring, or winter-feeding program development, contact me at the Extension Center in Sedalia at (660) 827-0591 or your local Extension Livestock Field Specialist.