ADELPHI, Ky. – Tis the season for mud. Feeding animals in muddy conditions is a challenge and can cost money. Critters have a higher energy requirement if they’re wet and muddy, said Gregg Brann, a private grazing consultant who also works for the Tennessee Association of Conservation Districts.

“The energy requirements can be as much as two times more,” he said. “You don’t want them mired up; I don’t like to have them above their hooves in mud. I try not to even get that far.”

Brann’s number one suggestion is to maintain good vegetation. Another idea is to have a gate at both ends of the field. Bring hay in from the side that has more cover, not through the cattle. Feed away from travel areas, he said.

Feed over the fence if a field is close to the road and it’s not busy. That way, you can keep the tractor out of the feeding area because the tractor causes as much of a mud problem as the cattle, maybe more, considering compaction.

“I do bale grazing,” Brann said. “I look at a 10-day forecast, pick out the driest day and set out a week’s worth of hay. We’ll use polywire or temporary fence to divide it up and give them a ration; we’ll feed three or four rolls every day, sort of like rotational grazing. We’ll set that hay on either a low fertility site or a weedy spot, trying to get some activity there. Then we’ll come back and do broadcast and frost seeding in February.”

Farmers can throw hay on the ground if they’re feeding good quality hay, Brann said. But if it’s rough hay, it needs a hay ring, and the feeding site needs to be moved with every feeding. The hay has nutrients in it, such as nitrogen and phosphate.

“I’ve done the math; there’s 10 times more value in the nutrients than it costs to reseed if you need to reseed,” Brann said. “That’s counting reseeding the spots where you fed. It’s hard to just reseed those spots.”

Unrolling hay also works well, although it’s a daily activity, Brann said. You shouldn’t unroll more than the cattle will eat in one day because they’ll walk on and lay in it. You can buy hay unrollers that can be pulled by a tractor or an ATV.  If producers are feeding on a slope, it can unroll itself.

“You usually don’t have to reseed after you unroll hay because they should clean it up good, and the grass comes up through that,” he said.

Another option is fence line or manger feeders. “It’s where you make an indention into the field, like a little lane into the field, set the hay in there and you don’t have to enter the field and the cattle come up and eat out of those,” Brann said. “The problem with those is it’s a one-site location and they’ll use it too heavy. It will be a mess but you’re not in the mess so it’s a convenience thing. They can be used in the worst of times because it gets to a point where you just don’t want to get the tractor out there.”

Also, if producers have a field of vegetation they don’t like, just let the cows mud it out and then reseed it. That will add nutrients as well as controlling the vegetation. For information, visit greggbrann.com.