Though residents and livestock may both be enjoying recent warmer temperatures, now may be the key time to prepare your animal operations for the colder climate to come.

Dr. Callie Garoutte with the Stuart Veterinary Clinic says cattle are fortunate to have a thick layer of hair to keep them warm during the winter, but it’s also essential that they get the proper nutrition and wind breaks. She says that shelter for cattle isn’t always necessary, and can sometimes pose health risks, “If cattle get in a barn and they huddle, it gets really warm in there and that warm moisture can create some issues with breathing and cause some respiratory diseases. So we don’t always want them to be packed into a barn and having that excessive heat, excessive moisture issue. So sometimes it’s actually better for them to be out where they can get behind some trees or if you take corn stalk bales and you pile them three or four high, and you kind of create a wind barrier from the north that they can stand behind. They do pretty good with that with increased hay in their diet and just somewhere they can block the wind and fight the elements that way.”

Garoutte stresses the importance of always providing access to clean water for cattle and increased roughage or forage to maintain good health during the winter.