Windbreaks for Cattle
The design of a windbreak is important; there are guides available online.
In many parts of the country there are no natural shelters, says David Ames, retired environmental physiologist, Colorado State University. “In Wyoming we’ve used big bales of hay, letting cattle eat their windbreak during winter. This works, especially if you move the windbreak to different locations each year,” says Ames.
The design of a windbreak is important, taking wind direction into consideration.
“With a solid wall — such as a plywood sheet — wind goes up and over it and dips down behind it,” Ames explains, adding that the windbreak needs to have at least 20% porosity. “That gives a larger downwind effect, with greater area (up to 4-6 times the height of the structure) behind the windbreak that provides protection.”
It also helps prevent snow piling up right behind the windbreak, he says, noting some stockmen create living windbreaks with trees.
“How much effort you want to make in building a windbreak necessitates looking at cost versus benefit,” suggests Ames. “If cattle have the opportunity to go into a draw, compared to standing out on flat ground, the cost is low. But when you start setting posts that will hold a windbreak and putting up lumber, that adds more cost.
“You have to measure how much value there would be,” he says.
The advantages of windbreaks in Nebraska feedlots have been documented, Ames shares. “The value is harder to quantify for cow-calf operators, but several designs have been shown to lower energy feed costs in winter.”
The half-circle windbreak is famous for areas in which you don’t always know from which direction the wind will come, says Ames. “The half circles catch a north wind, a west wind and even a southwest/northwest wind. You provide protection from every direction except an east wind, which is normally not a direction we get wind.”
Good windbreak designs are available, says Ames, referring cattlemen to worksheets provided by North Dakota and Nebraska engineers and animal scientists (see EC-94-1766-X available at http://nfs.unl.edu/documents/windbreaklivestock.pdf or search online for “windbreaks for cattle”).
There are many variables, and there is no one correct way to build a windbreak.
“As long as you can do something that protects animals from wind during cold weather, it will be helpful. You also need to spread the cattle out (not all bunched up behind one windbreak). Windbreaks should be on high, dry, well-drained areas,” he says.
Every producer needs to figure out what might work best in specific pastures, regarding where to locate the windbreaks and what type to use.
“Cattle will survive in very cold weather, but [they] eat a lot more and their efficiency of production drops. We’re looking at a combination of economic factors, as well as health and well-being. A good windbreak can be a win-win situation where you improve everything,” Ames says.
Editor’s Note: Heather Smith Thomas is a freelancer and cattlewoman from Salmon, Idaho