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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 5, 2015 18:35:33 GMT
To those of you further South and East, it's coming! But I much prefer this to the freezing rain, snow, drizzle, slush, etc... that we have been getting for the past few days. Now we just need a bunch of snow to fill in all the ruts I've made with the tractor for the past week!
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Post by Blessings Farms on Jan 5, 2015 20:18:52 GMT
Teens here now with 3 - 6 " tonight and high of 5 wen. and thurs.
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Post by genebo on Jan 6, 2015 2:24:00 GMT
Yesterday afternoon almost hit 70 degrees. We knew what was coming, so we enjoyed it as much as possible.
I put out a fresh round bale, hauled some screenings to fill in muddy spots near the barn and pulled the driveway to smooth it.
By Thursday our high temp is supposed to be 26 degrees! Low of 11 degrees! That is normally the coldest temperature we hit all year long.
We heat with heat pumps when the temps are above 35, propane when below. I checked the amount of propane in the tank to make sure we're ready.
On Wednesday I expect to put out a number of good, dry square bales so the cattle don't have to walk far to find one. It's a belly full of dry hay that keeps them warm.
I'm in total agreement with Hans about the benefits of cold weather. The best benefit I expect is to have the mud freeze. It is really sloppy right in front of the barn, after several months of neglect.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2015 3:10:34 GMT
We got about 8" of snow today. Wednesdays high is forecast for -4. 3 interstates coming in to DesMoines were closed for a time. 2 20 car accidents and a 9 car accident.
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 6, 2015 12:20:09 GMT
I sure like frozen more than mud...gradually the ruts are filling in with the lake effect we've been getting. We were too far North for the clipper you got Mike, but over the next few days we'll make up for it if we're in the right snow band. There are 4 cows in the barn now due to calve, and another 4 or 5 with reservations waiting for a vacancy...lol It makes for a fair bit of extra work with water and such, but it's our chance to spend a bit of time with them in close contact without the others in the herd that are prone to jealousy butting in.
Here is an interesting bit of information. We have 3 equal size stalls and one slightly smaller, with 4 mature cows ranging from 3 to 12 years old in them right now. 3 of them non-carriers, and one of them a chondro carrier. You can probably guess which of the stalls requires less daily maintenance of taking out spoiled straw, putting in feed and water, and easier to work in with the cow hanging around than the others. Yup, the one with the 12 year old chondro carrier in it. She is in the smallest stall, and it is the one that is messed the least. You would think the smaller stall is more likely to be quickly spoiled wouldn't you? With our other winter calving, we have found the same to be true. They just don't seem to produce as much waste, and we fill the hay feeder and water less frequently.
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Post by genebo on Jan 6, 2015 15:34:21 GMT
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 6, 2015 18:23:05 GMT
Ha Gene! Those gadgets are not for us, but for you folks down south when it gets below freezing. I don't even bother to put on a jacket until it gets below freezing, and the layers don't start until it gets below zero. In the spring, when it hits 40 or so, it's t-shirt weather!
I think the coldest I've ever been was one March, during some "spring" skiing in Banff Canada at Sunshine Village. The high temperature that day was -30c (which at that point is about the same in Farenheit). That was at the base, though it was probably -45 at the summit, and this was actual temperature not wind chill, and it was even colder through much of the day, I think sometimes getting to -65 or -70 for windchill. Amazingly, they didn't close any of the lifts, though the lower lifts and the runs served by the gondola were getting the most use. Not me, I was going up the Goats Eye and Divide chairs to the top...lol The Divide chair actually crosses the Continental Divide between Alberta and British Columbia. Though it resembled a fog, I think we were actually in clouds as we would go up the mountain on the lift, plus it was snowing. The wind was brutal, and I had on all my ski gear, plus a full face mask, goggles, my warm helmet, hand and toe warmers. My core was quite warm with just a single base layer and my ski jacket and pants. I made it the entire day but it was when we would get on the chairlift that it was so brutal. The exertion from skiing actually kept us pretty warm. A few days later there was a spot on my cheek about the size of a quarter that hurt and was kind of oozing. Apparently that was the one spot that was exposed skin, and I didn't realize it so it was a fairly mild case of frostbite I guess.
I read a story in a ski magazine a number of years ago about a guy in Colorado or somewhere similar, who didn't ski with gloves or parka or hat no matter how cold it got. Some doctors ran some studies on him and found that he actually ran an average body temperature of 101 or something to that effect, and his circulation was such that he wasn't susceptible to cold weather like most others are. I've heard of a guy in Finland like that too. I must be a little bit like that, though as I get older I am finding myself a little less capable of handling the cold than I used to.
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Post by Blessings Farms on Jan 6, 2015 22:11:26 GMT
Although Lakeports seems about 10 deg. more cold blooded I
think you can keep the gadgets Gene. Come and join us tomorrow
night -9 with 40 m.p.h. gusts. I am thankful for my operation
results I only have to wear a jersey glove in this weather now.
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Post by bruff64 on Jan 7, 2015 0:07:42 GMT
I am sick of Winter already, only 4 more months to go.....  |
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Post by genebo on Jan 7, 2015 0:19:23 GMT
Larry, you are hilarious!
Hans and David, you two are as foreign to me as if you came from another planet. How in the world can someone actually like cold weather? I can barely stand it in Virginia.
In just a few minutes I will go to the couch with my bride. We will snuggle up close and cover ourselves with a sherpa throw and try to find something fit to watch on TV. The gas logs will be blazing, throwing flickering lights over us. Odds are, as soon as we get warm, we'll nod off. Later we'll wake up to turn off the TV and the fire and go to bed.
Now that's the way to spend a cold winter night!
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 7, 2015 11:57:43 GMT
Stay warm David and Larry (I guess I'll throw you in there too Gene)! I wonder where the "Polar Vortex" has gone (I mean the term, not the weather). Did they realize that is was a bit ridiculed last year? I guess last year we were in the -30 actual temperature range a few times, so maybe it doesn't meet that threshold yet
David, stop sending those cold Southwest winds our way! I was reading the weather.gov site this morning, and the winds are going to switch from NW to SW, which brings in the unmodified by the Great Lakes temperatures to us. Usually the SW winds mean hot and humid, at least in the summer, for the same reason, no lakes to modify the temperature.
I must admit it's times like this when I really appreciate all that apple wood we've cut from the orchard in our little soapstone wood stove! It really takes the chill off after going outside to feed all the cows.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 20:29:21 GMT
We hit our high of 0 early this morning temps slowly doping through the day. So far our new energy free water is doing great no ice whatsoever at this point. I had expected when we hit extreme cold that the balls might stick but so far so good.
My hot tube is another story the heater sprung a leak yesterday and drained most of the water. I had no choice but to spend the day yesterday fixing it. Or it would have frozen and been junk. I ran a space heater on the pumps and controls the whole time to keep it from freezing while I worked on it.
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Post by Donlin Stud on Jan 7, 2015 21:59:04 GMT
Australia just recorded its third hottest year since records began. Our region experienced the hottest November since records began with the average maximum temperature up by 0.9 degrees Celsius. And December will have to be close to a record as well. Currently we have afternoons storms every day which are providing a small amount of relief from the heat but it is only shortlived as the humidity increases instead. Want me to send some over there…….  |
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Post by otf on Jan 8, 2015 0:45:59 GMT
It is 16* now at 7:45 PM in central VA, and is expected to plummet further. I'm thankful that the chickens, guineas, donkeys, and cows/calves have access to shelter to get out of the wind. If they don't use it, then it's their fault, I guess. Can't do anything about the weather except realize that other folks have it much worse than this. Hope everybody makes it through this cold snap okay.
Gale
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 8, 2015 17:20:47 GMT
Odd weather again today. We have wind chills of -30 but the wind is blowing from the South right now! We have all our shelters pointed with the opening to the South, since our coldest weather is usually from the NW to NE winds. Six to ten inches of snow expected later today when the wind changes back over to West to Northwest, depending on how the lake effect bands set up. Oh well, what else can I expect when our state is shaped like a piece of winter apparel? P.S. It's known as the "Mitten State" Donlin... and "Water-Winter Wonderland" used to be the motto on our license plates, now it's "Pure Michigan". Gene and OTF is a "lover"...lol ("Virginia is for lovers") Bruff will "Live free or die", and the rest of you can chip in with your state (or territory) mottos |
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Post by Blessings Farms on Jan 8, 2015 18:27:45 GMT
-9 with 25 mile hr. wind. Wind from south west should mean warm
up not colder. Good news high 20's to mid 30's next week. Sweat
shirt weather Hans!
Ohio Birthplace of Aviation (Wright Bros. and Neal )
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