February 2025 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN 43 Selling 70 Genetically Proven, Feed Efficiency Tested Bulls March 1, 2025 | Pawnee Rock, KS | LovingFarms.com A Different Shorthorn. Built from generations of data. Refined for profit. Bull and Female Sale Marty Loving: 620.786.2018 Scott Loving: 620.786.1369 scott@lovingfarms.com Request a Catalog at LovingFarms.com CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 Allowing a place for calves to retreat during extreme mud alleviates stress and keeps calves drier. MANAGING MUD IN THE FEEDLOT Mud management in the feedlot may look different than in pastures, but animal health and welfare still remain the top priority. Jessica Sperber, Ph.D., Nebraska Extension assistant professor and feedlot specialist, advises feedlot owners and operators on how to be prepared for wet, muddy winter conditions in cattle feedyards. She emphasizes the importance of preemptive measures, such as box scraping pens to prevent manure from absorbing moisture and creating mud. “If moisture is in the weather forecast, we recommend box scraping pens prior to receiving moisture,” Sperber says. “Even just three to four inches of manure on the pen surface can become seven to nine inches of manure on the pen surface as soon as rain or snow falls, because manure acts as a sponge. So scraping and leveling pen surfaces to remove that manure improves pen drainage.” She also suggests implementing mound structures for dry resting areas and maintaining the area behind the pen apron to ensure cattle can access feed and water. “Mounds are usually manure pushed up and packed down in the center of a pen with a goal of about 25 square feet of mound space per animal in that pen,” Sperber explains. In some areas of the state, particularly southeast Nebraska, maintaining mounds within the pens can be challenging because rainfall disintegrates the mound. Maintaining the area behind the apron, or cement area next to the feed bunk, is just as important to alleviate mud stress. “There is a lot of hoof action from cattle stepping on and off the apron, so if you are noticing degradation of soil behind
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