Ben, One of the advantages of cow/calf compared to feeding is that in the Wisconsin winter the hay and I will be inside and the cows will be outside...  That is not going to change! 

However I do intend to "finish" most of my steers and non retained heifers on grazing corn. They will be outside also but have access to one area of the feed pad for hay behind the corn. They will have their own section of woods for winter shelter when they are not in the corn grazing, similar to what I have been doing for several years but on a larger scale with better hay management. Basically I am looking toward an even more "self-service" system where the cattle do most of the work.

The shed is very well built. I am fortunate to have some very good local Wisconsin contractors nearby. They do a good job at a fair price and take pride in their work.The dirt work, the structure, the concrete, the electric and waterline are all very well done. Timely and fairly priced. These folks have all done work for me before.

The building plan is actually an adaptation of a hay shed plan I found on line from Iowa State University.  My contractor modified (strengthened and put in more bracing) the structure a bit from the plans to his liking for our snow loads. If you google MWPS 73112 the basic plan can be downloaded as a pdf.

Thank you for the kind words.

Jim