Dealing with the cold

The temperatures have plummeted and then the wind kicked up, so on the farm, like everyone else, we are dealing with the cold. Farming in the winter has its own unique trials, but when the temps take a nose dive and, on top of that, throw in a blustery wind, well, the daily tasks become a bit more challenging than usual. Every night on the way into the house, my husband loads up the outside woodstove, keeping us toasty and warm. During these subzero temperatures, each night before bed he hauls on outside clothes and goes out there again to load up the woodstove, to make sure we have heat the whole night through. As we deal with the cold on the farm, there is so much that can go wrong. There’s a possibility of water freezing everywhere we have water pipes: the milkhouse, the barn, the heifer barn, the calf pens. The what-ifs loom: “What if the barn cleaner won’t start?” or “What if we can’t get the tractor going?” or “Will the skid steer’s diesel fuel line gel up in this cold and if we can’t get that thing going, how will we feed our animals?” Any one of these scenarios, and a whole lot more, can occur, but they are dealt with one at a time, one way or another. Listening intently to the weather report, we knew this cold was on its way, so the night before the first blast hit we parked the skid steer just inside the barn. The cows’ body heat not only keep each other warm, but the cows also keep our skid steer warm. I’ve noticed hubby gets edgy as he deals with the frigid weather. On the mornings when it is well below zero, he tells me curtly, “Leave the back pen go,” which meant don’t scrape it out. It’s the one next to the outside wall and when it’s really cold, the barn cleaner paddles freeze there and they have to be knocked loose before we clean barn. If they’re loaded full because I cleaned the pen hours earlier, it would be harder to loosen them before turning on the barn cleaner. He knocks the paddles free, cleans the pen and immediately after, begins cleaning barn. The tractor used to haul manure is parked inside a shed, and every winter morning before milking, my husband plugs in the tractor’s engine block heater. He also makes sure the tractor is fueled up and before loading manure, he runs the empty spreader to loosen the apron chain. Just recently, we’ve had quite a few calves born and that’s always risky during cold weather days. We put one cow in the birthing pen overnight as she was “heavy with the calf,” as my mother-in-law puts it. The cow gives off signs that she is ready to deliver, such as a swelling udder, she may drip milk, she may lift her tail and become antsy and restless—all indications that a birth is forthcoming. Plus, we keep tabs on her due date. This momma was given every opportunity to calve successfully. On one side of the birthing pen, my husband had barricaded (to reinforce) the outside double-door with a gate, bedded the area with fresh straw and then left her alone to let nature take over. First thing in the morning my husband checked on the cow. She had evidently given birth, but he couldn’t find a calf. He pushed opened the big double-door and discovered the newborn must have somehow gotten outside! It was fine, but when I fed its mother’s milk a few hours later, she ate as if her brain had gotten frostbite. The little bully was a little bull-headed! Dealing with the cold on the farm brings its own unique trials and challenges. From keeping the farm house warm to equipment maintenance to tending to the animals, a farmer deals with the challenges one at a time, one way or the other. (“He spreads snow like a white fleece, He scatters frost like ashes, He broadcasts hail like birdseed, who can survive His winter? Then He gives the command and it all melts. He breathes on winter; suddenly its spring!” (Psalm 147:15-18, The Message Bible)