Adequate winter feed management maintains cattle welfare through the housed period by preventing nutritional deficiency and metabolic stress.
Winter feed management determines the welfare of housed cattle across the entire housed period. Underfed cattle lose condition, have compromised immunity, and face metabolic disease risk in late pregnancy. Overfed cattle become obese with elevated metabolic disease risk at calving. The welfare goal is maintaining target body condition through the housed period using high-quality forage and targeted supplementation. Systematic monitoring enables individual intervention before problems become severe.