5 Things Nebraska Cattle Feeders Do Before the First Blizzard Hits

A feedlot looks calm on a clear October morning.

But Nebraska cattle feeders know how fast a blizzard can turn simple chores into hard ones.

Here’s the prep feeders often handle before the snow flies.

1. Storm Rations

Nebraska Extension’s feedlot guidance says storm rations become critical once a winter storm is forecast to last three days or more.

That puts the switch on the forecast, before the snow arrives.

The ration should raise roughage by 7 to 10 percent of the diet’s dry matter.

Roughage is fibrous feed such as hay, and dry matter is what’s left of a ration once you take the water out.

The added roughage helps ease digestive upset and the risk of acidosis.

Acidosis occurs when microbes in the rumen make more acid than the animal can use.

Storm ration recommendations vary across feedlot nutritionists, so if you ever run the numbers for a herd, ask your nutritionist first.

2. Bedding Bales

Bedding is on Nebraska Extension’s winter checklist for cattle yards.

The amount runs from half a bale to one round bale per head space, meaning the room for one animal.

Stockpile that bedding closest to where it will be used.

If you’re feeding 500 head, that’s 250 to 500 round bales sitting near where you’ll spread them.

Extension’s feedlot guidance says feedlots bed every 2 to 3 days on average through winter, offering 2 to 4 pounds of bedding per animal per day.

3. Windbreaks

Windbreaks are also on Nebraska Extension’s cattle-yard checklist, which says to set them up in or around pens.

Extension’s feedlot guidance says you should aim for 7 to 8 feet in height while still allowing some air flow between windbreaks.

For material, windboards and guardrail with 2-to-2.5-inch openings between the rails are named too.

4. Water System Checks

Nebraska Extension’s cattle-yard checklist calls for checking trough insulation, electrical outlets, heating elements and water flow, including evidence of leaks.

That matters because Extension’s feedlot guidance lists the minimum winter water requirement for feedlot cattle at 1 gallon per 100 pounds of body weight.

For a 1,000-pound steer, you’re looking at 10 gallons a day.

Scraping and reshaping the dirt around water troughs and feedbunk aprons is on the list too.

Extension’s feedlot guidance lists electric or propane heaters, heat tape and solar power as ways you can keep water from freezing.

Windbreaks that shield the waterer from the wind are on that list too.

The checklist says each office or cattle shack should have at least one working hair blow-dryer, to thaw frozen lines.

5. Supply Stockpile

The supplies section of Nebraska Extension's cattle-yard checklist covers what to keep on hand in vehicles, near cattle and loading chutes, and in the shop or office.

You'll find deicer salt, sand or traction grit there, along with heat lamps, heaters and flashlights.

Fuel cans, starter fluid, battery starters or chargers, gate chains, load chains, tow straps and jumper cables are on it too.

The checklist's animal health section adds a second stockpile, telling feeders to buy and store at least two-thirds of the winter's tags, needles, vaccines, antibiotics and dewormers.

Veterinary refrigerators should cool product to between 36 and 46°F.

Coolers you use chute-side should keep product in that range too.

Blizzard Odds

Cattle feeders in western Nebraska share the country's highest blizzard probability with the Dakotas, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 2022 state climate summary.

The chance of a blizzard in any given year is greater than 50 percent.

Snowstorms and ice storms are a frequent winter hazard across the state.

If you're wondering how many cattle sit in Nebraska's larger feedlots, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's September report on cattle on feed puts the total at 2.47 million head, 2 percent above the year before.

That count covers only feedlots with room for 1,000 head or more.

Nebraska's 2.47 million is about 22 percent of the 11.2 million head that feedlots of that size held across the United States on September 1.

Wet-Coat Problem

Nebraska Extension's feedlot guidance lists a lower critical temperature for cattle, the point where they start needing extra energy to stay warm.

The table gives 18°F for a heavy winter coat and 32°F for a winter coat.