The latest round of winter snow and ice is over, but farmers are now dealing with longer lasting impacts to cattle. University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment specialists weigh in on what farmers may encounter and how to get back on track.
The ground was already saturated before the recent rounds of cold, ice and snow. Cattle were already requiring more energy to maintain body weight and produce milk. UK ruminant veterinarian Dr. Michelle Arnold said that is going continue until the grass begins growing again.
“Depending on hay quality, farmers may need to use supplemental feed to meet basic nutrition needs of cattle,” she said. “We often receive animals here at the UK Veterinary Diagnostic Lab for necropsy at the end of the winter months, and we find that they died of starvation. It is so hard for farmers to realize that cattle can actually starve to death while consuming all the hay they can eat, because crude protein and energy levels in the hay are low.”