I will feed at the shed but only in extreme weather conditions. More for me than the cows.

The corral/handling setup also gives me a way to keep the cows away from the shed.  Most feeding will be in hay feeders in a nearby sacrifice area. The silage wagon is also going to be in one place over the winter.

The cows need to spend more time in the woods over the winter as they have in past years, not loafing under the shed roof. They got lazy. There was way too much frozen manure pack around the shed feed panels. A sacrifice area is much easier to clean and compost in the spring. The half round bale feeders made the situation worse. They were  frozen in 2 ft of manure pack until June!

The setup pictured gives me a straight path to clean out through gates at each end.

Thanks to all for the kind words. The cows and calves are looking good. It will be interesting to get them in and worked and weighed. I am weaning a bit later this year with calving having been moved back a month. Also a beautiful time of year here.

Jim