yeah, i see the complexity of the issue there crystal
this is why the goat wins as an animal because it will eat anything so you can probably scavenge the weeds to make into hay and they'll deal
the sheep copes with the cold (assuming it's wooly) but what's it gonna eat in the snow anyway?
hay has a shelf life so i think the best strategy is to have a target for each month of stashed hay and it should cover you for your intended head count