Fluctuation In Temps Creating Challenges For Livestock Producers

Feb 04, 2022

The cold snap is creating challenges for livestock producers.

Carson Callum is the general manager of Manitoba Beef Producers.

"This cold weather really results in cattle eating or requiring a lot more feed," he said. "We were already in a feed deficit going into the winter and producers having to source a lot of external feed and this long stretch of cold weather is just adding to that demand on each individual operation. That's the main challenge among other things. Trying to ensure that they have proper shelter and all the important things that producers focus on with managing the natural landscape."

Callum added the fluctuation in temperatures also leads to challenges.

"It can lead to health related challenges, getting pneumonia and those type of things," he noted.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.