Hi Tap...

Actually they can take a big storm on the range, and last year the cows stayed out all winter.  The snow on the winter range melts pretty quickly, unlike the snow at the home place which tends to just keep piling up, especially in the spring.

The gumbo mud is a worser problem (for humans at least) than the snow.  And drought...is the worst problem! 

These cows have only had hay once in their life, in the severe drought 4-5 years ago.  We couldn't move on to the range as soon as normal, and we didn't have any other feed, so we had to feed hay.

It's funny how hard it is to acclimate cows that have had hay 6 months of their life, for generations to going out and grazing all winter.  We had bought some cows, that our cows kinda trained.  Our neighbor bought cows a year ago that had been raised in the haying scenario, and he had to move them out of the corral almost everyday.  They just stood around looking for the hay!!!

Tap, do you have any Four Wing Saltbrush in your country?  I know they have it around Miles City.  If you don't and would like to plant some, let me know, I bet I can score you some seed.

New Year's Cheers---

TTB :wink: