I can't wait for the #PolarVortex to be fully gone! We've had either negative wind chills or negative temps every night since the 5th and we've been solidly under 25°F this entire time. Serious #DeepFreeze!
I think one of the greatest pet peeves of a livestock farmer is tank heaters that don't work. Nothing is more annoying than arriving to check or feed livestock and finding a frozen stock tank and a worthless piece of crap tank heater that randomly stopped working for no reason. It never fails to happen at the most inopportune times as well.
We had freezing fog on Tuesday morning, which resulted in a serious hoar frost. Oh boy, what a winter wonderland! I'm about done with winter wonderlands...
So, in Florida we would just mow the duff out of the pasture at the end of the season. Apparently, those that live on the prairie are pyromaniacs. Here in Kansas, we just purposefully light it all on fire!
The barn was finished a couple of weeks ago and we have been busy moving in and getting the stalls situated. It's definitely not going to be the Taj Mahal, but it is functional and the animals are glad for the shelter. Especially tonight, as we are going to have negative temperatures with a - 20°F windchill.
I just want to say, there are just some things you can't do yourself. This crew has worked hard all week on the barn, and it's almost done. We wouldn't have been able to erect this structure by ourselves in under 60 days!
(This is not just a picture of a potty. This is a picture of the future site of my new barn!) The sheep get a barn for Christmas! And the horse, too. It's a pretty good present for me as well! I'm starting to get excited.
Bruce did not treat us well. I'm from Montana and I haven't even seen a blizzard like that before! We got about 8 inches with some 3 foot snowdrifts. The animals definitely suffered from the wind the most.
The next morning she wouldn't load up. We tried everything including coercion, extortion, bribery, and asking nicely, for close to 8 hours. The horse would not go in.
