The weather

[thecfarm]

At least it got into the double digit today. 10 above was the highest.  :D

[SwampDonkey]

We didn't get any storm here, but our 10 had a big fat - negative sign to the left of it. :D

It sure hasn't been hot from the furnace as usual, but it's still about 80 in here.  Sure eats the wood fast though. I might have to buck up them spruce falls in the back yard by spring. Probably thaw out the carpenter ants in the process. :D

[thecfarm]

How right you are. Many are seeing double digit,but on the wrong side of the scale.
Tommorrow high is 16 than Sunday 30,but maybe rain,ice,freezing rain,sleet.snow. Did I miss anything?  : Than Monday,40

[dustyjay]

Just got in from feeding the cows and it is -4. Never got above 0 degrees F today.

Next year I will have a better place to keep round bales...

[red oaks lumber]

high winds today wind chill minus 36 deg. f. i have about 6 older beef cows that are really starting to be hurt by the past 6 weeks of severe cold, they may not make it thru this coming week. forcast is calling  for a high of minus 20 deg.f. thru wed.
even my buffalo are starting to show signs of stress, this winter is really shaping up to be very costly. both animals and monetary.

[chevytaHOE5674]

I was outside much of the day today and it was a little chilly. Temp was in the single digits but with the wind it felt like double digits below zero. O yeah and more Snow.

Our animals are surviving pretty well with this cold weather and eye ball deep snow it doesn't seem to affected them much at all.... yet....I usually feed them in a small pasture right UP by the house but since its been so cold and windy I've been hauling bales out into the thick brush where it stays a bit warmer and the wind doesn't blow so bad.

[tyb525]

Our horses seem fine and happy out in the snow and wind, they have stalls they can go into but they don't, so they must not be too cold.

[Dusty Rhodes]

I feel for you guys and gals with the animals.  Got to be tough on you and them in this brutal weather.  It was 2 degrees F here this morning and with the brisk winds we had, who knows how cold.  High never got above the single digits and they are calling for the same cold temps. again tonight.  Tomorrow we warm up to the 20's then back to the deep freeze beginning of next week with temps below 0 F.  Could you Canadians please hold onto your cold weather until mid summer, then you can send it down to us?    

[thecfarm]

tyb525,we had 3 horses at one time. We would have blankets on them all. One was an old horse I had to rub some ointment on her hind quarters. I had to undo some of the blanket to get at the hind quarter. It was nice and warm under it. We tried to put the old one in at night. We would put some hemlock 1X4 inch hemlock boards in the doorway. I don't know what leg she used but by the time we got there both boards was broke. We gave up on that. We found out they would face the run in and just shook the snow off thier backs.They seemed to use it more in the summer months than the winter ones. We fed them in thier own area too. I was more concerned about the summer flies than the winter cold.

[Peter Drouin]

Why not put all the farm animals in the barn at night and close the door. My grandfather did and you could feel the difference. With all the cows it was almost warm. 

[chevytaHOE5674]

If you come build a barn big enough then I will gladly try to get them all in there every night.  :D


We have 2 horses and 2 donkeys running with the beef cows and they all spend their lives outside. They have access to a 3 sided "run in" shelter but hardly use it.

[thecfarm]

chevytaHOE5674,you must be talking about beef critters?

[red oaks lumber]

shelters here but no barn. i always feed out of the wind, and feed plenty to help with the extra energy burning.
even my finished hogs are taking 3 weeks longer to finish than normal but, the feed intake is the same. this is going down as a winter for the ages ;)

hey global warming where are you? has anyone seen global warming? if you do  tell it to come home :D

[thecfarm]

I would give our horses more grain in the winter. The goats too. I told that to someone and they had a fit about it, said my goats would get fat.  : I told them, I'll put you out there with just a little food and see how long you last. 

[red oaks lumber]

every outside animal needs more food in cold weather. my wife always over feeds her goats she says a fat goat is a happy goat :D

[SwampDonkey]

Barns are costly this day in age. But around here beef and dairy cows are in out of the severe cold. They all have barns around here. The neighbor here has been building a new barn this fall, the winter has put that on pause. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

Our January thaw coming on Monday and in the mid 40's.

[thecfarm]

This was our January,well almost February thaw last year.


 

It's -5 here now. But no wind.

[coxy]

its -15 out there now wood stove working over time cant seem to get the house over 65 turned the OIL burner on and tripped the breaker for got I put the odwb blower motor on the same breaker will have to fix it to marrow    ill just have to get a little closer to the wifey to night

[Peter Drouin]

+4 here and wind , but I have a window open 85 in the house  :D :D
Back in the day all you had to do is slap the grain bucket with your hand and all the cows would come a running. It's all about training the beast  ;D

[Holmes]

   -8 here now Coldest in a long time. Supposed to get to -12 in the am

[thecfarm]

I feed the deer and when I yollar they know it's meal time. I use to go down to the woods yard to feed them. The wife's tractor has a beeper if you don't set the brake before getting off the tractor. Talk about a dinner bell.  :D I would do it every time.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Yeah Cfarm I have a herd of mixed breed beef cows, 2 donkeys for protection, and 2 horses to work the cattle.

Having a barn for the animals just isn't financially feasible. The cost of construction, maintenance, cleaning, moving cattle, etc would make it never pay off for a beef cattle herd over the lifespan of the building. Other than a few 4H animals I don't know of anybody who keeps their beef cattle inside around here.

At this point I could go for a "January day in the double digits" let alone a "January thaw". haha

[thecfarm]

How many heads you got?

[chevytaHOE5674]

At the moment I think there are about 41 beefs in total consisting of 20 bred mama cows (mostly herefords), 4 steers ready to butcher, 5 replacement heifer calves, and 12 steer calves.

I've had more and I've had less at times. I acquired a few more acres last year but I need to fence it off, do some brush clearing, and then do some tilling and planting.

So a pretty small operation, but it is enough to keep one man busy between the animals, hay, crops, etc.