Happy Winter Wonderland, Subscriber First Name!

Is it a Winter Wonderland where you live? A white Christmas missed us by mere hours but looks as though it will stick with us for the New Year!

I sound excited because I am. Snow complicates everything, no matter how winterized we think we may be. Once cold temps sink in, and flurries fly, shit gets real. Usually, it is no real bother to the animals so long as we keep lots of feed to them and they have the option of a windbreak. But it takes work to install water heaters for each species and ensure we can keep hay in front and a million other tiny details to keep things running even when complications crop up.

This fall, we moved the cows off the pasture to let them rest the whole winter. They were restricted to no quality shelter from any conditions, but it is open dirt that is very suitable for much of our cold, dry weather. As soon as we saw this system set in and enough snow on the pasture grass, we opened the cows up to the South Pasture. This pasture provides dense trees where the cows can hunker down into dry dirt against any amount of snow and wind.

The chickens receive free-choice corn and their regular feed; corn generates the most heat as they digest it. Unfortunately, we can’t find sustainably produced corn locally, so this is an example of our animals’ health taking precedence over our ideals.

The horses receive free-choice hay. Seeing the temperatures could plunge to single digits or even ten below, we decided it was time to leverage blankets for the horses. That is just too damn cold if snow has melted and matted their hair as it does when we get these intermittent snowstorms.

Animals can handle cold so long as they have food to digest. It is severe wind, cold precipitation, temperature swings, and extreme heat that they start to suffer.

An animal is happy if they are relaxed but curious. It may seem an injustice to look out and see animals all covered in snow but to see a blanket of snow on an animal is a sign they are warm and well-insulated. The animals not covered in snow in that same group are the animals losing body heat and need help.

These are nuances that only come second nature to a seasoned livestock owner. To feel that edge of adversity is to feel connected and present for me. It charges me up and grounds me down all at once.

The cows will have access to the coverage in the South Pasture so long as the snow protects the majority of the grass and the weather is catabolic. We will gauge and see how the horses do with blanketing; it will be a lot of taking off and putting on to keep them dry through the snow so we can use the blankets when it is windy and sub twenty. The chickens will keep getting corn so long as the temperatures dip below twenty. I'd guess the water heaters for the cows and horses and chickens will primarily be on until March.

Winter is here, and with it came snow. So far, not enough to try out our new blade but the forecast looks promising. The snow is enjoyable when we are as prepared as we can be. The meltdown I do not enjoy is inevitable, so I might as well choose to enjoy it. Muck that freezes and thaws causes all sorts of problems for livestock, but I’ll jaw on about that soon enough.

New Year, New You

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As I wrote this newsletter, it ended up a two-for-one or a one-for-two, depending on if you are you or you are me. If that makes any sense? (I think I have been reading a little too much Pooh-ther-Bear).

Nevertheless, these newsletters have a funny way of writing themselves whenever I give my fingers a chance.

So, it turned out to be that I have one more newsletter to send after this, the 25th newsletter of 2021!

Stay warm and relish the final days of the year.