Best-practice guide to outwintering

Use the information below to make informed decisions around outwintering your livestock and explore the options that are best suited to your system.

Before diving into the practicalities of outwintering livestock, it's essential to take a step back and think about your goals.

Setting clear objectives will help guide your decision-making, ensuring that your outwintering strategy aligns with your overall farm goals and values.

Bale grazing and deferred grazing enable you to outwinter your livestock.

Bales are placed on the pasture before winter and fed in a controlled manner using electric fencing.

Cattle feed directly from these bales or graze on deferred pasture that has been allowed to accumulate during the growing season.

Explore the principles for successfully outwintering your livestock below.

Selecting the right types of forage, ensuring quality and implementing smart feeding strategies will set you up for success.

Learn about the types of forage suitable for outwintering, bale spacing and positioning, nutritional needs during cold weather and compliance with environmental regulations, and much more.

Ensuring livestock receive balanced nutrition in bale-grazing systems is essential for maintaining their health, productivity and maintenance.

It can be helpful to analyse your deferred grazing and hay as this will provide valuable insights into the quality of the diets and their suitability for your livestock.

Read about forage analysis and dietary recommendations, feed budgeting and matching supply to demand. 

When it comes to providing quality forage for livestock, farmers often face the decision between hay and silage.

Each option has its advantages and challenges, and understanding these differences is crucial for effective forage management.

Learn about cost versus feed quality, practicality for bale grazing, water infrastructure and more. 

Find out about outwintering, deferred grazing and outdoor straw pads as well as how to manage their environmental impact.

What are your financial goals?
Are you looking to reduce feed costs, save on housing expenses or increase overall profitability?

Quantify your targets where possible, such as aiming for a specific reduction in wintering costs per animal.

What personal outcomes do you want to achieve?
Outwintering can improve your work-life balance by reducing daily workloads or freeing up time during the winter months.

Are you hoping for more flexibility or less reliance on infrastructure?

How important are environmental and biodiversity benefits?
Do you aim to improve soil health, enhance wildlife habitats or reduce the environmental footprint of your farm?

Goals might include increasing soil organic matter, improving water infiltration or boosting biodiversity in outwintered areas.

What livestock performance outcomes are you targeting?
Consider how your animals’ health and productivity factor into your goals.

For instance, maintaining condition scores, reducing lameness or ensuring consistent growth rates might be priorities.

Once you have a clear idea of your goals, use them to shape your decisions on forage selection, site management and outwintering practices.

By keeping your goals in mind, you can tailor your approach to achieve the best possible outcomes for your farm, livestock and environment.

Key terminology

Explore the following pages to understand more about outwintering your livestock and how to make sure they receive enough nutrients.