Are your cows starting to look like they've reached the end of a long, hard winter? With one of the harshest Decembers in recent memory, some herds have come through the winter looking worse for wear. Address problems now, so your herd will be back on track this spring.

With some area hay supplies stretched thin, smart producers are eyeing cows' "fuel needs" for the balance of this season and the available resources for the 2001 calf crop that will soon be in the making. Here are issues you need to address now.

1. Cow body condition score (BCS). Thin cows, less than BCS 5, often give poor colostrum, both in quality (low disease-preventing immunoglobulin levels) and quantity. This increases the risk of scours and pneumonia after birth. Thin cows are more prone to calve youngsters who are slow to stand and nurse. This is due, in part, to lower body stores of brown fat, which affects their ability to regulate body temperature. Your local MFA agri services center or nearby authorized MFA supplier can obtain a MFA Body Condition Score Chart to see how your herd sizes up (1 score equals 80 to 100 pounds of body weight).
2. Pre- and post-calving nutrition. Two distinct periods occur in the cow management calendar where producers should avoid scrimping on cow nutrition. Cutting back on feed during the last 85 days before calving (period 4) affects how soon a cow cycles after calving. Trimming the groceries in the 50 days after calving (period 1) limits a cow's ability to conceive and maintain the next pregnancy. The table shows how poor conception rates are if cows lose weight during both pre and post calving. Provide the best possible nutrition (hay/supplement) during this time.
3. Take action.
   • Cows in good flesh (BCS 5-5.5) can maintain their body weight with hay and two pounds of a quality supplement such as MFA's 20% Cattle Breeder cubes daily.
   • If hay stores are tight, consider five to seven pounds of a "hay-stretcher" such as MFA's 12% Super Cattle Cube.
   • If cows became "light weights" during the winter (BCS 4-4.5), feed five to 10 pounds of MFA TrendSetter with hay until they reach 5-5.5 BCS. Thin cows convert efficiently, especially if they're separated from the herd. If not, bigger cows boss them away from feed to grab more for themselves.
   • Cows with back bones, pins, hooks and ribs showing (BCS 3-4) should be sorted and fed Cattle Charge free choice to bring them back to the desired weight quickly. Harsh winters followed by a foul-weather spring can cause thin cows to become downer candidates quickly. This is reminiscent of past years where cows fed volumes of poor-quality hay alone had bellies full of forage but were starving. Feeding corn to these cows won't correct the problem, as it sets up competition between the normal rumen's forage-digesting bacteria and the starch-digesting bacteria fed by the corn. Cows don't need this battle going on in their rumens. They need to make as efficient use of the fed nutrients as possible.
4. Don't forget first-calf heifers. Rough winters and poor-quality hay can "8-ball" them. Why? After calving, you're asking them to nurse a newborn, breed back in short order and still grow that last 15 percent or so to reach full adult size. Failure to address this issue frequently causes "sophomore slump" in our second-calf heifers.

   Think of fine-tuning your pre- and post-calving nutrition as making wise adjustments to your four-legged investments. Following these steps sets your herd up for a shorter, successful breeding and subsequent calving season. As a result, you'll get a more uniform calf crop at market time 18 months from now. With today's strong beef prices, you will be money ahead.