When temperatures drop in South Texas, many neighbors spring into action to protect their homes and families. But ranchers face the additional challenge of keeping their livestock healthy and comfortable during cold weather.Neig hborhood News Reporter Stephanie Molina met up with Scott Frazier, a local rancher and owner of Thunder Cattle Company in Chapman Ranch, who demonstrated how he prepares his animals for freezing temperatures. How South Texas ranchers keep livestock warm during cold snaps"During this stressful time, we'll up that corn a little bit from normal," Frazier said.When temperatures drop, Frazier makes sure his animals stay happy and healthy by adjusting their diet and care routine."We try to keep our animals full. Cattle are ruminant animals, they have a big stomach that gives off a lot of heat when it's digesting and working on what they feed," Frazier said.Frazier adds more corn and cotton to their hay mix to give the cattle extra energy during cold weather. The enhanced feed provides crucial nutrients when animals need them most."Fairly high energy, real high protein, got some oil and stuff in them," Frazier said.On a typical day, his cattle eat about 25 to 30 pounds of food. But when it's cold, they get fed an extra 10 pounds of feed every day until temperatures warm up.Frazier explains why maintaining livestock comfort is so important, especially in the beef industry."The more comfortable our cattle are, you know, the more opportunity they have to gain weight, the bigger, heavier, fatter they get, the better they do, these cows like this, if they're in good shape, you know, then reproductively they get bred back. They, you know, have healthy babies," Frazier said.By lowering their stress levels, ranchers make cattle less likely to catch diseases. Ranchers also add windbreaks to help protect the animals from harsh weather conditions.Water access remains another critical concern during cold weather."Make sure they have you know access to their water, that we don't have a broken water line somewhere we know we don't got a chaufe and all of a sudden they're out of water, that sort of thing," Frazier said.Frazier said planning ahead for livestock is similar to preparing for pets during cold weather."Part of me doing it or ahead of time is that we're not out here when it's really cold they kinda take care of themselves if we do it a little ahead of time," Frazier said.Frazier said they'll return to feeding the livestock their normal amount of feed once the cold front ends. ...read more read less