Cold winter weather. Great if you love skiing, not so great for us and our ruminants when we’re out and about in rough weather. That said, ruminants can be remarkably resilient in cold winter conditions – to a point.

In this, part one of a two part podcast series, we explore why ruminants (focusing specifically on dairy cattle) can tolerate moderately cold winter conditions.  Risk factors that influence the degree of tolerance by cows to cold conditions are discussed. The range of coping mechanisms provided to ruminants by “Mother Nature” to improve resilience to colder winter weather are explored.

Part two of this latest podcast series (episode 52) will cover some practical, farm-based strategies, with a nutritional twist, that can help keep cows well through winter weather events.