A harvested field might seem like the solution to your winter feed costs. The combine is done, stalks are left behind, and your cows need a place to graze. Before letting them in, step out and check what they can really eat.In West Texas and the Southern Plains, November often lines up grain harvest with winter feeding needs. Crop residue is the plant material left after harvest. Grazing corn stubble or milo residue can rest your native pastures and help your hay last longer.
Each field is different. Loose corn leaves might blow away. Milo fields could have green regrowth among brown stalks. Sometimes, a neighbor has already baled what you hoped to graze.
Begin by looking at what feed is left, how many cattle you need to support, and what might cut their stay short. Then decide if that field fits into your winter plan.
A hay ring that sits on solid ground in October can become a muddy mess by January. The tractor makes the same tracks, cattle end up standing in manure as they eat, and the path to the feeder stays wet. What seemed easy in the fall can turn into a costly winter problem.
Processing days in October often feel long, especially when you are pressed for time.
Raising replacement heifers is more than just another task on the ranch.
Weaning in September can reveal any weaknesses in your calf management. Calves are separated from their mothers, moved to new pastures or pens, and must adjust to new feed and water setups. They also face dust, changing temperatures, and lower forage quality. If you add processing or a sudden change in feed, a calm calf can quickly need treatment.
Every rancher knows how fast hay can disappear once cold fronts start rolling through.
It may still seem like summer in August, but that is precisely the time when you should begin considering winter cattle management.
On a cow-calf ranch, August always seems to arrive out of nowhere. One day, you’re busy keeping water troughs full, fighting flies, and making sure calves have shade during the hottest hours. Suddenly, you check the calendar and realize fall sale season is much closer than it seemed in June. Calves that looked healthy in July can quickly lose condition if they’re weaned, vaccinated, worked, transported, and sold all at once. In West Texas and the Southern Plains, heat, dust, dry pens, long trailer rides, and mixing at the sale barn all put extra stress on a calf’s immune system. That’s why August is the right time to start getting calves ready before all the stress hits at once.
When spring breeding season ends, most people are ready to pull the bulls, close the gate, and take a break. That makes sense. Breeding season is hard work, especially in tough country, hot weather, big pastures, and with cows that are not easy to find. But the work is not finished when the bulls leave the cows. For many herds in West Texas and the Southern Plains, this is actually when next year’s breeding season begins. If a bull comes off cows thin, sore, footsore, heat-stressed, or dealing with parasites, he needs care now—not next spring when it is too late.
If you’re planning to wean calves this fall, August is when you need to get started.
