# The joys of farming in the cold. . .



## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

So this morning I have been thinking about all of the "Fun" stuff I have had to deal with during my cold days here on the farm. Well here are a few things I would like to share with you. . . 

You know it is pretty cold when your pocket knife refuses to open and it is dry! While carrying warm water from the house to water the animals it freezes before you reach your destination. Also the joy of having a scene very close to the iconic "The Christmas Story" occur. . . Just today I was carrying water (wasn't even up to 14 degrees yet) and some water splashed on my hand. . . well not thinking I still picked up the bucket and went to snap the empty little bucket back up for later tonight. . . well both hands got stuck! One hand on the metal snap and one hand on the bucket. . . Oh the joy of pulling frozen flesh off of cold metal! :shock: Not to mention the other day when it was so cold my water trough in the back horse field was a solid piece of ice (the hubby had fed the night before and it appears he didn't break that trough then as we had two back there). . . Well a hammer would not break it so I stand in the trough (mind you with the horse watching and I am sure he was laughing on the inside!) hold onto one fence post and start jumping up and down until I finally broke through the ice! 

Does anyone know a secret to keep your glasses from fogging up during feeding when you try to wear a scarf? I have not figured it out so I either have to feed with froze cheeks and nose or blind as my glasses frost over and its like I am not even wearing them! I have been temped to try some rainx window stuff but not been brave enough yet! (don't want to ruin my glasses) I tried the liquid soap trick and that doesn't work.

Well then today I dislocated my shoulder trying to lower a kid back into a warm holding pen. Not sure how I did it but oh well it's life. Went old school and put it back in myself and still had to carry water to all fields. Now it's time to start all over again! Hopefully I won't slip on the ice again! 

Hummm maybe I should start feeding in ice skates and it could decrease my feeding time. . . or send me to the hospital. . . Guess we will never know :shades: 

Oh and my neighbors dog (the little one) has been fighting with my dogs over food. That dog lets itself into my fences eats their food picks fights and then attacked one of my LGD pups. He is still a pup and very good nature but thinks this little guy belongs since he is always on the farm so my guy won't do anything back to him. My lovely LGD pup is limping now (no puncture wound but sore). He is very good about running off the bigger dog that show up and even scaring off the coyotes but this little dog seems to have his number which is very odd in my book. . . It's hard to keep him out of the fences and with the gate latches refreezing so fast it is hard for me to catch before he gets back out and now runs from me. The dog is so little he can fit through the cattle panel gate and digs under the other goat type fencing. When I put electric on the lower part he just starts digging a hole farther back so he can clear the wire. 

Oh the joys of this cold weather. I can't wait til spring time!!!


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Oh my...Im sorry but you had me rolling!!! I can see you jumoing on that water trough lol....Peeling your hand off the bucket...LOL....:ROFL:

I promise not to complain about our freezing 30 degrees :slapfloor:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Sure sounds like fun...not. Hope this bitter cold weather goes away soon.


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Oh man! Old school relocation...ouch! It would be great to have all that on video! :lol: Here's to spring :cheers:


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## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

Waiting impatiently for spring with wind chills I'm getting -30 deg. and temperature shifts of about 50 degrees from one day to another of course that is almost normal shifts for northern Mi this time of year but the last 2 years have had abnormally warm temps so I'm spoiled now :snowbounce:


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## ChrisM (Jan 13, 2014)

I would suggest moving south but it's not been much better here as of late. I'm not sure why people complain about it.... I'm personally a fan of global warming!


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

Cathy,
lol glad you got a kick out of it! Believe it or not jumping on the water trough was actually really fun! Well I kept waiting for some disaster to happen when I broke through but thank goodness I was lucky and able to hold onto the fence post! I wish everyone could have seen the bucket thing because I even got a little confused for a second. When I went to snap the bucket up I realized it was stuck so I started to take the other hand to pull it loose but then noticed the other hand stuck on the snap. It really seemed more like a cartoon thing happening. No worries I know your not complaining. I am not complaining myself but sharing all the priceless moments. I won't give it up for a minute as I love all my critters.


Karen,
Thanks! It has been fun but I will be happy when it warms back up! I am sure your having pretty interesting weather up there too! 

NyGoatMom,
Yeah lets just say I don't want to have to do that many more times! It is a lot easier to put someone else's back in instead of your own but sometimes it has to be done. Maybe I should start wearing a head camera while feeding for all of this interesting stuff going on?!?!? lol Sorry but I had both hands full during the bucket mishap so no video available there :shades: 
lol I should probably put up the video of my hubby ice skating in his boots on our road! The joys of it raining and then freezing!

kc8lsk,
Thinking that as abnormally warm is something I do not want to experience! Hat's off to you! I spent some time in Boston back in the early 2000's and loved it but I am not use to that type of weather anymore. While doing my undergrad I was up there and then went to Puerto Rico for lectures and that sudden temperature change was shocking. It was odd though having Christmas in Puerto Rico that was the warmest Christmas I even had!

ChrisM,
I am not complaining and I do actually live in the south. I just live on the side of our county that gets some of the lovely plateau weather. My father-in-law lives in FL and they hardly get too cold down there but I love living in East TN!


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

its healthy to have good humor!! : )


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I sure is.


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## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

With this kind of weather I kinda look forward to global warming too after all I was raised down south (New Mexico) and am not really having fun this time of year I Hate Winter but I love Michigan during the summer


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## Cedar Point Kikos (Oct 16, 2013)

(Just writin' me a note to read this tomorrow  )


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## ChrisM (Jan 13, 2014)

DDFN said:


> ChrisM,
> I am not complaining and I do actually live in the south. I just live on the side of our county that gets some of the lovely plateau weather. My father-in-law lives in FL and they hardly get too cold down there but I love living in East TN!


I was talking about people complaining about global warming. I'm all about 60 degrees in January...  I'm sure the two goats in my garage feel the same way right now.


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

ChrisM said:


> I was talking about people complaining about global warming. I'm all about 60 degrees in January...  I'm sure the two goats in my garage feel the same way right now.


lol I bet those goats were feeling pretty good!


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

Well just been sledding today some too bad it was hay sledding and not play sledding. Maybe tomorrow I can have some play time.


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## nchen7 (Feb 25, 2013)

:ROFL:!!!!!!! WAY TOO FUNNY!!! i think you should have a go-pro attached to a hat from now on. i'm just picturing the bucket incident, and i can't help but laugh.

i hope your shoulder is ok. must have been painful.....

we've been getting unseasonally wet weather lately, and it's just been a soppy mess everywhere. the goats feet get stuck in the mud, so when i take them out, they either don't want to go where i want them to go and when they do there's a *shlurrrp* sound with every step they take. then there's me, sliding up and down the hill from the mud. i'm surprised i haven't face planted yet, but it's really only a matter of time......


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## springkids (Sep 12, 2013)

I am not complaining and I do actually live in the south. I just live on the side of our county that gets some of the lovely plateau weather. My father-in-law lives in FL and they hardly get too cold down there but I love living in East TN![/QUOTE]

Hey we aren't that far apart! I live in North West NC. I feel your pain. This is the coldest January we've had in 30 years. I am 33 so this is the coldest January I can remember and personally I think it is too cold and too WINDY. That's the part I hate. Thank God my girls aren't due untill March. I'm praying for better weather before then! ray:


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I totally understand, the cold has been brutal! We have to take warm or hot water out in milk jugs in order to thaw the buckets, it's such a pain. If you don't take off your gloves and get them wet, then your gloves end up sticking to everything! usually when it's this cold <0 out right now with wind chill -11>, usually a little water doesn't soak through the gloves, it just freezes!
I used the handle of a hammer one day to break ice, and within seconds the hammer handle was already frozen over, my daughter and I were amazed at how fast it froze.

When my daughters doe decided to kid on 1/7, that was the first brutal cold night, it was -9 with a wind chill -30. When her water broke, it froze to the back of her legs! I was so worried, and poor mama was shivering. I had heat lamp on, but it did very little good.
I was so worried we'd get frost bitten as I had to take my gloves off to help deliver babies. Trying to get them dry, keep their ears from freezing, it was a LONG night. Thankfully they were fine, ears are fine, but sure was a lot of work and I was so exhausted.
It has just been so unseasonably cold. We are usually in the 30s/40s, but lots of days in the 20s. Once in a while we'd have lows in the single digits but not very often. So having highs in the teens and lows around or below 0 is a shock.
Funny though, now 20 or 30 seems like a heatwave LOL Thankfully after today we push this cold stuff out of here, and get back to normal temps!

Oh.. one more thing, We had a lot of snow on Saturday, on Sunday it got very warm, melted most of the snow away. But Sunday night it froze again/turned bitterly cold, and the yard, and driveway is an obstacle course of slippery ice! You have to be very careful. Not fun when you have your hands filled with water jugs, or a large container of grain.


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

nchen7 said:


> :ROFL:!!!!!!! WAY TOO FUNNY!!! i think you should have a go-pro attached to a hat from now on. i'm just picturing the bucket incident, and i can't help but laugh.
> 
> i hope your shoulder is ok. must have been painful.....
> 
> we've been getting unseasonally wet weather lately, and it's just been a soppy mess everywhere. the goats feet get stuck in the mud, so when i take them out, they either don't want to go where i want them to go and when they do there's a *shlurrrp* sound with every step they take. then there's me, sliding up and down the hill from the mud. i'm surprised i haven't face planted yet, but it's really only a matter of time......


lol Sounds like your the one that should start wearing the camera! At least if I fall today it will be nice white cushion of snow but if you fall it will be not as pretty lol. I remember many years ago back when I was bringing in horses I had opened the gate at the end of the barn we were in at the time because a sudden storm hit (rain and all the light works going on). I slipped in the mud landed on my butt and the horses ran into the barn and the next to last one just paused and looked down at me like "well are you coming in with us"?

I hope it dry's up a bit for you guys.

Oh thanks my shoulder is feeling a bit better but the other day I was dragging a trough half full of ice to the fence line to dump in (because I could not get it to break) and my shoulder started to give. I thought for sure I was able to dislocate it again so I just stopped where I was and waited a minute. Then of course I finished dumping it lol, but all was well!


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

springkids said:


> I am not complaining and I do actually live in the south. I just live on the side of our county that gets some of the lovely plateau weather. My father-in-law lives in FL and they hardly get too cold down there but I love living in East TN!


Hey we aren't that far apart! I live in North West NC. I feel your pain. This is the coldest January we've had in 30 years. I am 33 so this is the coldest January I can remember and personally I think it is too cold and too WINDY. That's the part I hate. Thank God my girls aren't due untill March. I'm praying for better weather before then! ray:[/QUOTE]

Oh dear I bet you are getting this nice weather we just got! It is -5 degrees here right now and I am just getting ready to head out to feed so I am not sure how much more snow we got but last night while feeding it was about 6+ inches. I may actually try to go sledding after I get done with feeding and course work (working on my master's right now).

I am so glad yesterday I came back home before making it too far out. At the time the roads looked fair but I was hitting slick spots. So I called and asked my professor to let me sit in on class by internet which worked out great! I learned how to use google hang out and had a class mate set me up on their laptop. Then everyone that was there had issues getting home while I was safe and sound in my living room!

No one even though it was going to get this cold last night. I hope we get thawed out tomorrow as I really don't need to miss too many classes.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

Oh man , that is funny :ROFL: Im sorry for laughing but just the thought of watching all that is just hysterical :slapfloor: Im sorry about your shoulder , and I'm glad you didn't loose too much skin on your hands , ewwww that must have hurt ! I still can't help but giggle about that one :hi5:

It's been a tough one this winter for sure :GAAH:
Thanks for sharing your happenings with us :snowbounce:


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## nchen7 (Feb 25, 2013)

yea....slipping and landing in the mud is no fun. i hate being muddy and wet. and my wellies are leaky, so i'm also trying to avoid puddles....

oh, last month, Missy was somewhere and one of her front legs sunk INTO the mud!!! my bf was taking them in, and thought she was lying down. she wouldn't move, so upon further inspection, her one leg was in the mud up to her knee!!! poor thing. he had to dig her out. i'm glad she didn't struggle too much and twisted her knee


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

HoosierShadow said:


> I totally understand, the cold has been brutal! We have to take warm or hot water out in milk jugs in order to thaw the buckets, it's such a pain. If you don't take off your gloves and get them wet, then your gloves end up sticking to everything! usually when it's this cold <0 out right now with wind chill -11>, usually a little water doesn't soak through the gloves, it just freezes!
> I used the handle of a hammer one day to break ice, and within seconds the hammer handle was already frozen over, my daughter and I were amazed at how fast it froze.
> 
> When my daughters doe decided to kid on 1/7, that was the first brutal cold night, it was -9 with a wind chill -30. When her water broke, it froze to the back of her legs! I was so worried, and poor mama was shivering. I had heat lamp on, but it did very little good.
> ...


You have been in the same boat as us! Oh dear yes when a glove gets wet it does freeze pretty good to metal things such as a tube gate. . . That is actually why I am down to one pair of gloves this season. I am very hard on gloves and tend to loose then to items on the farm. I had one with three fingers stuck so firm to a gate I had to work my way out of it and leave it before (this was when we had the extreme below zero weather last time though). How do you keep your gloves staying dry? I always some how get mine wet on the inside and then freeze when I go out the next time. I can't hang them near the gas stove fearing they will fall and catch things on fire so I just sit them on a stool near the stove inbetween feedings.

lol Well I used to use a hammer and a small hand held colander but broke the hammer trying to break ice so now I just use either a bucket or my feet or just jump up and down on the troughs. Nothing like seeking a hammer break! And yes you should wear safety glasses!

I would hate to think about one's water breaking and freezing at the same time. I had some pretty cold nights below freezing with kidding but had been lucky to have enough heat lamps and draft free areas to keep us thawed (can't say warm but thawed). I got to the point one night of taking my boots off and warming up my feet under the heat lamp. I had to hold the nose sucker (that is the technical term my hubby calls it) under the lamp before sing it cause it kept freezing during use. So I had to rely on 4x4 gauze for the most part.

Oh I can understand about arms full and finding ice. Please be careful and not get hurt. I think I remember me and you having similar luck on getting hurt on little things if my memory serves me correct.

PS one day when the ice was thawing I dumped a bucket and as the ice chunk came out it apparently cut my finger. I felt it go across but never felt pain. I looked down to see red everywhere! It numbed my finger I guess and I had a good amount of red snow before I noticed what had happened. My hubby pointed it out or I may still not had noticed it.

Oh tomorrow will be a heat wave for us so I look forward to that! Hang in there! I have one more doe due (my only little boer) and she is due any time between now and March 1st (technically the first week in March). The way she looks I hope and think she may wait for awhile but if I say that then I will wake up to a massive surprise! She still need to finish bagging and loosen up so no whammies please! She looks like she may have triplets or poss more depending on if she waits til March!


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

Trickyroo said:


> Oh man , that is funny :ROFL: Im sorry for laughing but just the thought of watching all that is just hysterical :slapfloor: Im sorry about your shoulder , and I'm glad you didn't loose too much skin on your hands , ewwww that must have hurt ! I still can't help but giggle about that one :hi5:
> 
> It's been a tough one this winter for sure :GAAH:
> Thanks for sharing your happenings with us :snowbounce:


No worries laugh away that is why I put it up here! If you read where I replied to Candice you will see that I cut my finger without noticing it! The joys of ice it numbs and makes things all better. . . well unless you fall on it.

My shoulder is feeling a lot better but I do have to put out some round bales tomorrow. lol yeah I may need to donate some skin in advance for future sin grafts if I keep this up! It didn't hurt too much but I was laughing the whole time thinking "oh this would only happen to me wouldn't!". lol

Oh the gas company had to make it out here the other day because I smelled gas outside. well the finally made it here (record time really considering the weather snow and ice) and then found out it was odor stuff from the local gas station that had a bad o ring. Then the guys truck was sliding all over the place getting back out but while he was here I told him I was a wuss and didn't start feeding until it got above 3 degrees. he laughed as it was just at 8 degrees then.


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

nchen7 said:


> yea....slipping and landing in the mud is no fun. i hate being muddy and wet. and my wellies are leaky, so i'm also trying to avoid puddles....
> 
> oh, last month, Missy was somewhere and one of her front legs sunk INTO the mud!!! my bf was taking them in, and thought she was lying down. she wouldn't move, so upon further inspection, her one leg was in the mud up to her knee!!! poor thing. he had to dig her out. i'm glad she didn't struggle too much and twisted her knee


Oh now how horrible! I had a little girl once I was raising (long story) and at that time I was married to my first husband living on a cattle farm. Well near the barn rain water would run off the roof and land in a cattle water trough and the cattle would make a big muddy mess around it. I always told the little girl not to walk through there when coming out to go riding. I was leading the horse and she was walking a bit behind as she was putting up the grooming tools etc. She cut across through there and got stuck! I had to go pull her out and she lost her boots in there! Mind you she was not even school age yet so her boot were small but still priceless. I had to put her up on the horse to finish getting out of the mud. I can picture how hard it was with goats!

I had another case where a horse started to sink in a natural spring before which was horrible but the horse got out safely but I then lost a boot (one of those tall english hunter jumper type boots too)!

When will it dry up for you all up there?


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## nchen7 (Feb 25, 2013)

it's supposed to be dry now!!! I keep hoping to have no rain (or at least just drizzles as opposed to monsoons), but it keeps raining!!!


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