Just Let Them Out to Eat Grass

January is definitely the longest month of the year. It’s when winter really sets in, and there seems to be no hope of life on the land. Sure, the beeves and horses don’t seem to mind—especially when it’s above zero. But the green on the land is almost forgotten; the nights don’t seem to get any shorter. Sometimes it can be hard to believe that in another month, harbingers of spring will appear.
We rarely get snow here on the home ranch that amounts to anything. Our high elevation summer ranges are buried with up to 4 feet of snow, as the mountains claim nearly all of it, leaving us in rain and snow shadow. I’m looking out the window as I write this, and there’s only 2-3 inches on the ground. It is what makes the Pahsimeroi perfect for wintering beeves. Little snow means no mud, and still access to grass that they pick on while getting the majority of their nutrition from our green grass hay. We don’t get much wind here, and little disease. The cold is dry, and because of that, it is easier for our beeves to retain body heat and be healthy. Wet cold conducts heat (and disease!) more efficiently.
And then there is the sun. Low angle though it be, it feels like it is 60 degrees out in the afternoon on some of those sunny but cold January days. Its high altitude power will burn skin, even though the air is below freezing. You’ll see the beeves scattered out over hundreds of acres, picking grass, rubbing on something, or just splayed out on the ground”¦sunbathing.
When I see those cattle everywhere, I know this is the right way to raise them, especially after driving past a huge feedlot in Montana yesterday. It was thawing, and there was mud everywhere. Manure mud. They were feeding chopped hay and could have even been called grass fed beef (you are allowed to keep them in a feedlot in the winter under the USDA grass fed rules).
The fecal mud doesn’t occur on our pastures. Kidney stones don’t either, in case you were wondering. I read an article about bovine kidney stones the other day. They can be a real problem in a feedlot situation when fed corn. But don’t worry; they can medicate the beeves so that this isn’t a problem.
Really?
I think it would be easier just to open the gate and let them out to eat grass.