Winter Cattle Raising Precautions and Feeding Management Key Points

Change from feeding a single feed to multiple feeds. Generally, farmers are used to feeding cattle only single rice straw or wheat straw in winter, and rarely add concentrate. In fact, feeding a single roughage provides poor nutrition and poor palatability, and can very easily lead to cattle anorexia, loss of body condition, and death. Therefore, winter cattle feed must be combined in a varied way, achieving a mix of green feed and dry feed, a mix of roughage and concentrate, and a mix of grass-family grasses and legume grasses.

Change from feeding at any time to feeding at fixed times. Most households feeding cattle feed them whenever they have free time, with no fixed schedule at all. In fact, cattle have a certain pattern in digesting feed, and feeding at fixed times can help cattle form a conditioned reflex, increase saliva secretion, and fully digest feed. In winter, because the nights are long and the days are short, in addition to feeding cattle at fixed times three times a day in the morning, noon, and evening, a “night meal” should also be fed at night.

Change from no exercise for cattle to outdoor activity. Cattle kept in barns all winter lack exercise and have no chance to be exposed to sunlight, making them very prone to illness. Therefore, when the weather is clear, the cattle should be led to a wind-sheltered place outside the barn to bask in the sun, move their muscles and bones a bit, and have their bodies brushed with a bamboo comb to promote blood circulation, strengthen the cattle's physique, and prevent cattle from developing lice and mange.

Change from accumulating manure inside the barn to accumulating manure outside the barn. Most farmers raising cattle have the habit of accumulating manure inside the barn. However, in winter, if this manure accumulation method is still continued, it will inevitably affect the sanitation of the pen, the dryness of the ground, and air quality, causing cattle to develop external parasites and diseases such as rotting hooves, bringing adverse effects to cattle safely overwintering. Therefore, when cattle are kept in the barn, they should be regularly led outside the barn to defecate, and this should become a habit. If there is bedding soaked with urine, it should be replaced in time. In addition, if cold air invades, besides thickening the bedding, straw or hemp sacks stuffed with straw can be draped over the cattle as a “cattle coat” to help resist the cold, preserve warmth, and prevent freezing.