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Cold Winter Climates
approach will enable the producer to forecast feed demand by the cattle and to plan to have adequate feed
reserves on-hand throughout the year.
Importantly, feed production will vary from year to year due to the efects of climate on plant growth, pasture
quality, and soil fertility. Therefore it is advisable that a reserve of feed is planned each year to accommodate
for reduced plant growth caused by any of these factors. In any one year, this may amount to as much as 100
of the anticipated feed requirement being stored for emergency use.
Each farm should have good road access to ensure that vehicles, including heavy trucks, can easily enter to load
or unload animals or feed. Property roads may need to be upgraded or re-sited if trucks are unable to get to the
cattle yards. Boggy areas can either be drained or driven around, or they may have to be illed in with rock or
gravel to prevent injury to animals and damage to trucks and other vehicles.
2.2.2. Paddocks and Fencing
Traditional management in many countries with cold winter climates has relied on shepherds to manage
cattle during spring and summer whilst the animals graze pasture resources during the day, before returning
them to simple wooden pens or sheds at night. With an abundant labour resource utilised in the past to manage
cattle, and low labour costs continuing to the present day, signiicant numbers of cattle remain under the
control of shepherds during the May to October period in these regions.
With beef cattle, shepherding may remain a viable management tool in the short to medium term or may
be combined with low cost portable electric fencing as a means to control grazing throughout the year. This
technology provides more lexibility to the shepherds in being able to manage larger mobs of animals, and
minimise the need for many permanent overnight pens at ixed locations, to which the cattle are often moved
each night. In other words, the cattle can be left grazing 24 hours a day.
Recent cattle importers in these regions are installing fencing to control animal movement as labour
availability declines and costs of employment increase Fig. 2.2, 2.3. Where fencing does not currently exist
Figure 2.2. Fence construction for cattle projects in Kazakhstan. Source: Bruce Creek, Kazakhstan.
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Beef Breeder MANUAL
in any form, the initial capital cost and the ongoing maintenance and depreciation costs associated with
fences are high. In order to evaluate whether fencing is a viable alternative to shepherding for this development,
inancial evaluation is required during the farm planning process.
Simple post and wire fences that are electriied ofer one of the lower cost alternatives to large scale fencing for
beef cattle enterprises Fig. 2.4, 2.5. Fences of this type of construction can be erected quickly, enabling large
areas to be fenced economically. To remain efective, the fences must be well maintained, and the integrity of
the electric current needs to be preserved to maintain the control of livestock. It is also important that all cattle
must be educated with electric fencing to maximise their efectiveness.
Barbed wire fences have long been used to fence large areas of land for use by cattle. However, damage
caused to cattle hides by cattle rubbing against the barbs is seeing the replacement of barbed wire fences
with electriied plain wires to realise improvements to animal welfare and inancial return from all components
of the beef animal when sold.
Figure 2.3. Large distances can be fenced quickly using simple construction methods - fence construction for cattle projects in Kazakhstan. Source: Bruce Creek, Kazakhstan.
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Cold Winter Climates
2.2.3. Cattle Yards
