Feeding Calves in the Winter, 1970s

I’m talking about calves that were born in March or April and weaned in October. We fed them a mixture including corn, alfalfa, silage*, and supplemental pellets. The goal was to fatten them up through the winter, to be sold in the spring. The buyers fed them throughout the summer. They were slaughtered the next fall, becoming your steaks, hamburgers, ribs and roast beef sandwiches.

The calves were kept in the barnyard adjoining the barn. There were big, wooden feedbunks in a line in the yard. In a lot next to the barnyard we stored the hay, silage, corn and pellets.

We had a big feeder wagon to accomplish the feeding. It was perhaps 12 ft long, 6 to 8 feet wide, and 5 or 6 feet deep. We used two tractors. One pulled the wagon, while the other loaded the hay and silage into it. There was a mixing mechanism in the wagon so that the different ingredients of the feed were combined. The alfalfa, silage, corn and pellets were added to the wagon, then the wagon was pulled into the feed lot.

The calves quickly learned that wagon meant food, so they gathered ‘round. The tractor pulled the wagon along one side of the line of troughs. There was an augur in the wagon to pull feed out and deposit it in the trough.

Dad or one of the boys drove the tractors. I opened and closed gates and shoveled corn and pellets. I did the grunt work, as did either of my brothers when they helped Dad.

The calves were fed every morning, regardless of weather. On particularly frigid, windy, blizzardy days, this is how I dressed to do that work:

On the bottom half, after underpants - white athletic tube socks - long thermal pants over the socks - thick woolen winter socks, tops tucked over the thermal pants - blue jeans pulled on over all that.

On the top half, after sports bra - t shirt - thermal shirt - flannel shirt.

Then it was down to the entryway, to put on the outermost layers. There were several hooks on the walls which were loaded with sweatshirts, jackets, coats, and coveralls. There was a box on the steps crammed with gloves, mittens, hats and scarves. (Mom knitted or crocheted most of the hats and scarves.)

Coveralls

In this order, on went a hooded sweatshirt, hood up - full body, long sleeved, insulated overalls - insulated boots - knit cap - knit scarf tied around neck and pulled up on the face just below the eyes - gloves - mittens.

Ready to go. It was important that no bare skin be exposed. And pray to god I wouldn’t need to go to the bathroom for a couple of hours.

The temperature might be -20 degrees. The wind might be 40 mph. The snow might be blowing horizontally. But the calves had to be fed, or they would die. Their feed was fuel to heat their bodies.

The many layers of clothing was our tactic to survive that depth of cold. It worked. The biggest frustration I remember was my eye glasses frosting over from my breath. I was nearsighted then, and I needed to be able to see dad on the tractor so I could interpret his signals about what I should do next as we fed. It wasn’t that my glasses got a little foggy. It was actual frost on them. I could have used a windshield ice scraper to get it off, but it might have been a little hard on the specs. Hot breath created frost on the scarf across my face at my mouth. Sometimes I looked like I had scraggly white fangs dangling from my scarf. After 30 minutes out there, any of us would have made the Unabomber (1980s mass murderer) look benign.

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A silage pile. Imagine the tractors from
the "Tractors" story, rather than the ones pictured here.

*Silage is a form of roughage feed. The entire corn plant is chopped up by an implement called a chopper which pulled by a tractor through the field. The corn rows feed into the chopper, and machete-like knives inside chop the plant into pieces that usually are around 2 inches long. The silage is stored packed tightly together, which causes heat to build up. Some mild fermentation occurs, making the silage a more effective food by releasing more nutrients. On those frozen winter mornings when the silage is scooped up by the tractor, the heat is still there and the silage steams. The calves really like the sweet, warm food.