Looking at the costs of mud in terms of cow and calf performance

After the drought we experienced throughout much of Ohio during the summer and early fall of 2024 who might have thought mud would be a concern as we move into a new year? However, mud like we’re experiencing now and also as has been experienced in most recent winters, can have significant impact on performance in a cow/calf operation. During 2022 Ohio Beef School webinar series, then OSU Animal Sciences’ PhD candidate Kirsten Nickles’ shared her research into the impact of mud on the cow herd. In this 8 minute excerpt from that session, Nickles summarizes the long term costs of mud in terms of cow and calf performance if adequate supplemental nutrition is not provided to compensate for the added cow energy requirements created by a muddy environment.