Pine Needles and Hay Bales

We often joke that there are two seasons in ranching: Winter, and Getting Ready for Winter.

Because we practice rotational grazing methods on our ranch, we are blessed with abundant forage for our livestock, even in drier years such as 2022. As such, we actually haven’t had to feed much hay to our main bunch of cattle yet this winter. (We do have the weaned calves in close, and they receive 2 bales daily. We also have the fat cattle we are feeding out for our customers that are on free-choice hay in the corral.)

However, this past weekend temperatures dipped to 25 below zero (before wind chill!) and proactive measures were taken to ensure the cattle did not abort their calves, since they are in a pasture with Ponderosa Pine trees.

Ponderosa Pine tree needles contain isocupressic acid and labdane resin, both abortificants. When the temperatures plummet, pine needles actually begin to taste sweet, and the cattle — who otherwise wouldn’t eat the needles — will turn to the pine boughs as a source of energy. This, unfortunately, can cause them to abort their calves. We are only two weeks out from heifer calving and less than 4 from the main bunch starting. So, to combat this, we fed the cattle a healthy amount of high quality grass hay in their pasture morning and evening.

Another way we prevent pine needle abortion is to thin areas of pine trees that are excessive (this also acts as a fire prevention tool!), and we also limb up the pine trees in our main calving pasture so the cows cannot reach the branches.

Temperatures are supposed to hit in the 40’s this weekend, which is surely going to feel like summer! We are hitting it hard on the ranch (when are we not?!)… only 10 more days until the first sub-season of winter: Calving.