K-State Research and Extension

“Mud – Save Yourself Some Trouble”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist 

As cattle people we grudgingly accept the various natural elements as part of the cost of doing business. Rain, snow, ice, and extreme temperatures are part of life in Kansas for ranchers and cattle feeders. And each of these factors that moves animals outside of their comfort zone, called the “thermal neutral zone”, steals a measure of performance. With respect to mud, however, we know that the cost of fighting mud in terms of lost performance is high, and we need to prevent these losses if we can.

Researchers have estimated that although pastern-level mud has little effect on performance, hock-deep mud is costly. Daily gain is reduced by 1/3 to ½ when cattle are fighting mud. Mud is the “gift” that just keeps giving, and hurts performance in several ways:

1. The energy required to reach the bunk or water trough increases dramatically when slogging through mud, so a large part of their daily energy intake is lost to this expenditure;
2. The stress of fighting mud will actually discourage cattle from making the trek to the bunk, thus reducing their intake;
3. Cattle have a hard time finding a comfortable place to lay down and rest, causing an increase in energy wasted just standing around instead of resting;
4. Wet hide from laying down in the mud will cause cold stress to increase because they don’t have a good, dry, insulating hair coat.

When we consider that under stress-free conditions, only about half of animals’ normal daily energy intake goes toward gain, all these increases in energy expenditures dramatically cut into what is left over for gain.

Preparing for mud won’t eliminate these costs, but we can reduce them. Here are some suggestions:

1. GET THE SNOW OUT! Feeders can save themselves and their cattle a tremendous amount of stress and lost performance by removing snow from feeding pens BEFORE it melts and becomes water—and MUD! A rule of thumb is that an inch of snowfall contains about 1/10 inch of rain moisture equivalent. But because the snow will melt slowly, the resulting moisture is allowed to permeate the pen surface and little will run off, creating extremely soft pen conditions. So think of 10 inches of snow like a 3-day drizzle dumping an inch of total moisture. A slow drizzle is better for crops and pastures because the ground can soak up the moisture; and it’s harder on pens for the same reason.
2. Build and repair mounds within the pen. Cattle should have about 25 ft² of mound space per animal in the pen. Mounds should have a slope of about 1:5 on the sides to facilitate moisture to flow away from the cattle and the ‘valleys’ between mounds should slope about 3-4% away from the bunk. The end of the mound nearest the bunk should connect to the concrete pad so cattle don’t have to slog through deep mud to get to the bunk.
3. Increase pen space per animal. Whereas 125 ft² of pen space is sufficient during dry summer conditions, 350 ft² may be not nearly sufficient during wet conditions. Adapt as conditions dictate.
4. Smooth pen surfaces whenever the weather allows. The longer muddy conditions persist, the worse the pen conditions become and cattle will have an even greater difficulty moving throughout the pen.

Living and raising cattle in Kansas has many rewards. By preparing pens ahead of time for the wet times of the year we can improve animal comfort and performance in order to reap the rewards.