Winter Weather

Today is the first day in about a week that it may actually get above freezing. Mother Nature took this time to remind us - with a cold blast from the north - that it is, indeed, winter in Iowa.  With windchills in the minus teens, the weather - painfully - took us all by surprise. The does haven't been outside since the frigid weather hit.  The ewes got one day, but were happy to get back indoors - even with their insulation of foot-deep wool and sheepsuits snuggly in place - they did not want to be outdoors.  I do feel really bad for the boys outback, though.  Yes, they have a shed too, but their water and hay is a paddock away from their little house.  Yuri, especially hates the trudge - cold wind and moisture do not make him happy.  I must confess, out of pity for the old guy, I have made the trudge myself, to put hay inside for him.  I think he appreciates that.

Another dilemma of the cold is frozen eggs. When it's this cold, if we don't practically catch the eggs coming out of the hens, they're frozen solid and cracked and useless.  We've found too many of those this past week. And of course, water ... getting it to animals, keeping it thawed when it gets there and not having it spill on anyone when it does. Wet animals can freeze to death quickly. There's one particular silkie hen, Mulan, who has, on two occassions, ended up in the goats water tank.  Luckily for her, there are bricks for the birds to stand on if they fall in - and the water is heated.  But on those two occassions we've had to do a wet-chicken-rescue, where she has to be wrapped in a towel or rug.  The most recent occassion was when I was about to head into town to get Ada from school. Since I couldn't leave a dripping wet hen on her own in the barn, she had to come along.  That was one happy hen. On the floor of the truck, wrapped in a rug with the heater blower on her full blast? I think she'd have been pretty content to have been able to spend the entire rest of winter there.

Along with today's warmer temps, however, a new hazard is also potentially on its way - freezing rain. When it comes to having livestock - especially horses, ice can be a deadly thing. So, the agenda for this weekend morning at Sunny Silver Maple Farm, is to: 1) put everyone outdoors for as long as possible; 2) clean stalls and pens; 3) lay down new bedding for the next haul; 4) fill water tanks; and, 5) load up feeders in anticiaption of another day or two of being stuck indoors - and I'm not just talking animal friends here at Sunny Silver Maple Farm - the people residents will also need to hunker down. As winter continues to sweep into our lives, we are wishing everyone safe and slick-free days ahead with dreams of spring flowers and warmth dancing in their heads.