The last two winters have been some of the coldest and snowiest winters on record since the late 1970s in Sweet Grass County

 

The last two winters have been some of the coldest and snowiest winters on record since the late 1970s in Sweet Grass County. They have proved to be extremely challenging to livestock producers in terms of meeting the nutritional needs of all species of livestock. MSU Extension responded by hosting several nutrition workshops that served to educate producers on a variety of topics, including forage testing, ration balancing and the nutritional requirements based on stage of production for various livestock species. Producers were able to interpret feed tests on their forages and with these tests in hand, develop rations to meet the production needs of their livestock while stretching their annual forages supplies. This, in effect, helped to minimize the economic impact to these ranchers by limiting the amount of extra forage they had to purchase to make it through the winter. Winter feed costs are considered to be the single largest input affecting profitability of ranches in Sweet Grass County.

 

To learn more about Sweet Grass County, see their program highlights here.