I have arrived at the slow down stage of my life, the suckler cows stay out all winter on an old well drained pasture, go down to them once a day with baled silage or as this comming winter it will be hay. They all calve out there in late April, I have a chap who helps me to round them up once every three weeks to tag and castrate the bulls.
The calves are weaned in November, and that is all I have in the sheds over winter permanently, the yearlings come down into the sheds for feed, and run back onto the adjoining fields. They spread their own muck all winter.
As for going back to mixed farming, when I went to farm College they went on about the Norfolk Four Coarse Rotation, no sprays were needed just a man or two with a thistle spud and to pull the docks. Its only lack of rotation that has led to all this anual weeds.
Back to the sheds , spread the cattle out thinly and it takes far less straw, ad lib silage and get them to all lie down with full bellies. No grinding of expensive corn, no feeding from the sack, just good silage or hay and a block of rock salt. The cattle will mature at just over two years, the most expensive thing bought is the wormer
Too many cattle in the shed is good for neither man nor beast. do a good job with just a few less cattle or stick up another shed.