Where Kit winters his cows is definitely different than where some of us winter ours, but he sticks to his story that anyone can do it that way. As far as the water, he says they don't need water in the winter. That is one place I really don't agree, so that gives me doubt on some of the other stuff he says.
What works in one area, definitely doesn't work everywhere, regardless of how bad you want to sell your program. If you short your cattle, they might not die, but they don't live either and the longevity of them is definitely shortened. They just can't do everything without proper nutrition.
Along this line, I just had a conversation last night with an older widow whose husband passed away and the son is running the ranch. He is very industrious, very good with iron and machinery. Not so good with the cows. He isn't moving them off pastures as he should be. His mother questioned him about it and he told her he read where you could teach cows to eat weeds. She is concerned and passed that along to me. I told her that there is someone who has done that; but with HEREFORD cows and calves that weigh 400 lbs. This woman and her son have high-producing black cows. They calve early and wean the calves in October. I don't think he should be trying to 'teach the cows to eat weeds' at this point and with those type of cattle. They are on irrigated ground and what I saw, was the cows NEVER laid down. Shows me they are not getting what they need, so they are eating all the time. Cows should quit grazing and lay down between 11 am to 1 pm. If they are not doing that, something is wrong. (That is if the wind isn't blowing~that kind of changes things.)
I liked what Soapweed said a long time ago, "If I have to run cows that way in order to have them, then I don't want them. I like looking at cows in good shape" or something to that effect.
The pleasure we (my husband and I) get from ranching is knowing our cattle are well-fed (and that doesn't mean over-fed, but it does mean nutritionally sound), satisfied and look good. Everything else kind of falls in behind that.