Managing Cattle In Confinement To Save Herd During Drought

Sep 30, 2014

Cow-calf producers who are dealing with minimal range land, due to drought and competition for grazing land, may be considering managing the herd in confinement. K-State beef specialist Jaymelynn Farney recently published two extension publications that discuss this option. Farney provides an example of how big of an area a herd may need.

"It all depends on whether you are putting a dry cow in, pairs in, whether you receive a lot of moisture, whether its rather dry," Farney said. "So as you would probably guess, dry cows on well-drained hard packed facilities need less area than pairs in muddy wet conditions. We do have a range listed from about 200 square feet for dry cows in a optimal lot conditional with drainage to up to 800 square feet for pairs in a not well draining, very muddy type of pen situation."

Producers can consider for feeding the herd in confinement, even if there is no actual permanent drylot available on site. Farney said if producers have a pasture that needs some recovery time, then it might be worth it to make a small part of that pasture and dedicating it to drylot situation.

"In order to save the rest of my pasture, I am going to sacrifice one acre," Farney said. "On one acre I was able to put 160 dry cows, haul in some bunks, have a water source and keep those cows confined in that one area to allow the rest of the pasture to have time to recoup. I am sacrificing one acre to potentially save a quarter section."

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.