Cold Morning Chores

Due to the combination of the Martin Luther King Holiday and Inauguration Day I had an extra long weekend.  Actually I was off on Friday as well due to my 9/80 schedule so it was a relaxing 5 days around the farm.  I try to do all the farm chores when I am off work since Danielle does them during the week, especially during the winter months since I leave the house before sun up and don't get home until 5 PM.

We have been experiencing quite a cold snap lately which made the morning chores particularly brisk.  I am not complaining, since I realize many other parts of the country are below zero in actual temperature and -30° F or more with wind chill, but 5° F for Maryland is damn cold.

When it is this cold Buddy grabs his morning breakfast, in this case a meaty bone from the previous nights pork roast, and retires to the relative warmth of his straw filled dog house.


I tend to give all the animals larger portions of feed to help them stay warm. Danielle also put new straw in all of their shelters at the start of the cold snap.





One of the biggest problems is keeping water available to everyone. We have an electric de-icer in Bella's water trough adjacent to the barn. We have not however found a good way to keep the other animals waters from freezing solid. This leads to twice a day hauling of water from the barn to the animal paddocks, luckily only 50 yards or so. The ice then is broken out of their buckets and the fresh water poured in. The pigs manage to drink or spill all of their water before it freezes so in their case it is just a matter of retreiving their trough from wherever they dragged it to and filling it.

Here is an obligatory self portrait of me all bundled up for the morning chores. In addition to my pajamas from the night before I have on a turtle neck, waffle insulated hoodie, hat and insulated coveralls. While I managed to stay relatively warm it was still great to come in by the warm wood stove when I was finished.



Hope everyone is staying warm.