SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. – Nobody likes the cold and we try to get away from it whenever we can.

Cattle in the feedlot or on range often don’t have that option and can be stuck out in the open when the wind blows and the temperature drops. But a few simple measures can help the herd weather the storm.

Much of the problem with this later round of weather and its impact on local cattle is how fast things changed, said Dr. Karla Wilke, cow-calf and range management specialist with the University of Nebraska at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff.

“A lot of it is the temperature fluctuations,” Wilke said. “Saturday, we had cattle panting because it was near 80 degrees. The high on Sunday was only 30. That’s a 50-degree swing in temperature.”

Those sudden changes can be a severe stressor on cattle, she said. Add in the fact its weening time in many herds and the combination has the potential to lead to what Wilke said could be a perfect storm of illness.

As cows and calves near the end of their first season, the natural immunities that have been passed on in the cow’s milk is starting to decline. At weening, calves have to start depending on their own immune systems to stay healthy and fight off disease. A good vaccination program helps give calves that extra boost they need as they essentially head out into the world of the sale barn and feed lot on their own, Wilke said.

But there’s an extra wrinkle in the mix this year – namely the longer growing season on pastures from the cooler, later summer, she said. Some producers may be leaving their calves on that free food source longer than in other years, which is good, Wilke said. But, by the same token, that may mean some are delaying the regular vaccination regimen that usually accompanies bringing the calves in from pasture at weening.

“And, if they’re vaccinating later, those calves may be more susceptible to dealing with the volatile weather patterns,” she said. “They might be setting up for a perfect storm – snotty noses and things, because their immunity is not as developed.”

It’s a bit like the first day of a new school year, Wilke said. Whether it's  calves headed off to the sale barn and feed lot or children headed off to a new classroom, both are exposed to new environments, filled with germs and other things their bodies haven’t developed a natural immunity to.

Keeping to their regular immunization schedule – regardless of if the calves are coming off pasture at the regular time or they’re taking advantage of some extra chow in the terms of late-season grass – can help the calves get that leg up they need, she said.

“Raising calves is not much different than raising kids,” Wilke said. “You have to set them up the best you can.”

Weather woes

Dealing with the weather can be almost as simple a task. Additional shelter and maybe a little more energy in the form of some extra feed can go a long way to helping beef animals and other ruminants as temperatures drop.

“Extra feed creates more heat in the rumen and windbreaks really help,” Wilke said. “If cattle get a wet hair coat before the cold, they’re more susceptible, just like all of us.”

Formulating winter rations to help battle the elements is a balancing act, she said. Adding in a little corn here for energy or a bit more forage there to increase action in the rumen can help, but producers can also go too far.

“It comes to a point in time when feeding starches can actually reduce the digestibility of the forage,” Wilke said. “They can feed a little more medium- to high-quality roughage and a little more corn, as long as they have acceptable protein” in the ration.

This weather, and the subsequent stressors it puts on livestock, aren’t unusual. What is adding to the problems is the timing, Wilke said.

“It’s not out of the ordinary, other than the fact this is our second time in a month we’ve had blowers with nighttime chills,” she said. “We always have temperature fluctuations in October. But this – we’ve had two flash freezes now, really brutal cold we normally don’t experience in October. I think that’s going to stress the calves a little more than we would normally in October.”