By Warren Rusche
The last couple months in South Dakota have not been for the faint of heart, especially for livestock producers. The good news is that there are finally some signs of spring. The bad news is we still have some challenges to overcome in the next few weeks.
As the snow melts, we are going to be left to deal with mud at a minimum and extensive flooding as a possible worst-case scenario. While we can’t control the pace of melting or the possibility of additional precipitation, we may be able to take a few steps to mitigate the negative impacts.
Dealing With Muddy Yard Conditions
Mud in open yards is extremely detrimental to cattle performance and efficiency. Unfortunately, mud will likely be in ample supply this spring.
If we haven’t had the chance to move or at least pile up snow or ice on the pen surface, we may still have a window of opportunity to do so now while it still gets below freezing at night. Scraping pens also reduces the places for surface water to collect and slow down the drying process. These steps are all easier said than done, but anything we can do now will reduce problems later.
Removing any drainage impediments also would be a useful step. Sometimes soil or manure will build up along fences or drainage ways and unnecessarily block water flow. Moving that material now, if possible, will allow surface drainage water to move off the pen surface more quickly.
In some cases, it may make sense to send cattle to market sooner, especially in backgrounding programs. Researchers in Nebraska found that allowing increased room per-head in an open yard reduced much of the negative impacts of mud on performance.
Feed Supply Access
Flooding is occurring in Southeast South Dakota and is a very real possibility in many other watersheds this spring. Strategic positioning of feed supplies is important in case water levels rise and make roads impassable. That could be especially important for feedstuffs that need to be trucked in from a distance if there are any questionable areas along travel routes. Feed stored on one part of the farm might also become inaccessible. Moving some feed supplies closer while there is still some frost in the ground will be easier compared to doing so in the mud.
Another concern that could come up this spring is a potential shortage of roughage. There’s not question that this winter has increased the amount of hay consumed as well as placed additional demands on bedding. Limiting feeding grain can be a useful strategy to stretch forage supplies, but this isn’t a strategy that can be implemented immediately. There needs to be an adaptation period to adjust cattle to additional starch. If substituting grain for hay is a possibility, plans should start to be made now.