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prone to respiratory diseases and other infections during winter, as heat and humidity within the heavily-stocked
sheds contribute to ideal conditions for a number of pathogens.
Most winter sheds also have an adjoining outdoor yard that can be used to provide the cattle with an area
to move and ‘loaf’ during winter. However, this is not always the case.
Where outdoor pens are associated with the sheds, cattle health is improved as the cattle spend a considerable
amount of time outdoors, resulting in lower levels of exposure to the humid conditions that persist inside the
shed. This is despite the very cold outdoor temperatures that prevail in mid-winter.
7.5. Opportunities to Manage Cattle
Outdoors During Winter
Managing beef cattle outdoors throughout winter and without the use of sheds is not a common practice
outside North America.
Experience in other cold climate countries has shown that alternative management based on maintaining the
cattle outdoors throughout the winter is possible, and is achieved at a substantially lower cost of production,
including a reduced requirement to invest in buildings, machinery and labour.
Strategies for outdoor management vary considerably between producers. However, the two main strategies
practised successfully are;
• Feeding in coninement In winter yards
On winter feeding sites • Winter grazing
Stockpiled pasture or forage Forage swaths.
7.5.1. Feeding in Confinement
Coninement Yards Coninement feeding in well-constructed feedlot-style
coninement yards is a simple winter strategy and is not a signiicantly large step forward for producers who have
previously utilised sheds. The coninement yards are similar to those utilised as loaing yards in shed systems.
However, a key diference is the use of wind fencing to provide protection against wind chill during the coldest
weather conditions rather than a shed Fig. 7.9. Design principles for a coninement yard are similar to
those for feedlot planning, and require consideration of suitable surface materials and slopes for siting and
constructing the pens, providing suicient area for the cattle to be contained, and waste management
structures to capture eluent that may run-of the site as the snow and ground thaws during spring see
TECHNICAL NOTE 2 - Planning and Confinement Facilities.
Preparation of coninement facilities with compacted pen surfaces increases the utility of the yards and also
enables them to be used year-round for activities such as inishing young cattle prior to slaughter. If the pen
loor is not constructed from a suitable compactable material, the surface can become muddy and ‘pugged’,
particularly in the shoulder periods of the season leading into winter and spring when the ground is not frozen.
During these periods, the cattle can accumulate muddy dags on their coat that, if present at slaughter,
can impact on the value of the animal received, and increase the risk of bacterial contamination of the
carcass during slaughter and hide removal. Provision of bedding mounds in pens can also assist to prevent the
accumulation of dags. Winter Feeding Sites
Coninement feeding may also take place without the need to develop coninement yards Fig. 7.10. In
these situations, shelter needs to be provided in some form that enables the cattle to cope with harsh winter
conditions when they occur Refer Section 2.3.4.
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Figure 7.9. Winter coninement yards with wind fence protection for beef cattle in Canada. Source: International Agriculture for Development.
Figure 7.10. Winter feeding sites may be developed without the need for constructing coninement yards. Source: International Agriculture for Development.
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Figure 7.11. Bale-grazing is a widely-used option in North America to feed cattle on wintering sites without requiring investment in containment yards. Source: International Agriculture for Development.
As is the case for coninement feeding in yards, a daily supply of feed needs to be provided to the cattle
throughout the period of coninement. Feed can either be provided in a similar form and manner as in
coninement yards, or alternatively ‘bale-grazing’ is a developing practice in North America Fig. 7.11.
Bale grazing involves the use of large round or square bales that are placed on the winter grazing site and set
out in many repeating straight lines that can be ‘fed-of’ to the cattle at regular periods by controlling access to
the bales with electric or other cattle-proof fences. Cattle on wintering sites such as these also require a
source of fresh water, and a frost-free water source needs to be provided throughout winter.
Because of the high density of livestock on the conined area of a winter grazing site, manure accumulation can be a
signiicant environmental problem if not factored into initial site planning considerations. Consequently, wintering sites
should be located away from environmentally sensitive areas such as riparian zones adjacent to water courses, or
alternatively some site engineering is required to prevent run-of of nutrient rich waste water into sensitive areas
during the thawing period in spring.
7.5.2. Winter Grazing
