Good Morning From The Frozen Tundra!!!

First I want to say thank you for all of your support. I feel bad that there are readers that I have disapointed because I value all of you and dont want anyones feelings to be hurt. That being said - here is my post for today.

It is -21 in town so its about -31 out here in the country. When I say its cold, I am not kidding. Dandelionmom - how dare you insinuate that this is bragging about how tough we are! LOL

*BIG GRIN* Even if it IS the truth!!! LOL To be honest, I would rather be freezing than sweating - I hate sweating, it makes me well, sweat more..... Did I mention I hate sweating? I can honestly say, there is NO sweating going on today. It is dangerously cold, so prayers for our animals and family members that must be out in it would be appreciated. The milking cows will NOT be let out of the barn today because of the cold. Extra corn stalks will be put into the loafing barns so that there is ample bedding to snuggle into for the cattle that live outside. We are not able to 'clean out' the loafing barns on really cold days because the shit is frozen like ice hunks, even with ample bedding. The manure spreader also has the HUGE challenge of trying to throw the frozen crap without breaking the 'beaters' on the back. The really bad part about not letting the cows out when it is this cold is this - the barn will be cleaned, but the cows will not be able to get out of the stall they are standing in for 24 more hours - UNLESS it warms up past -10 today which its NOT supose to. We hate to make them stand or lay in the confinement for that amount of time BUT if we let them out for even a short amount of time - seriously even 10 minutes - their exposed titty's will freeze. There is NO way for this to not happen. If this cold snap lasts longer than a couple of days, I have seen it last up to 11, we often clean the barn with the cows in it and when we are done cleaning it we untie them all, let them walk out of the barn to the bunk feeder and turn around and make them come right back in. This is done with in about 5 minutes so that they can at least stretch their legs and breath some fresh, non germ filled air. They can move around in thier stalls - stand up lay down shift thier weight but who wants to look at a wall all day long - I am sure not even a cow does. SO thats the life of a dairy cow in the great north! The beefers are a differant story - they stand out in the cold even when they have warm bedding. They have heavy coats of hair right now that resemble that of a muskox...seriously. They have ice sickles that form on thier nose whiskers! And the hair on their bags - udders - bags is farmer slang for their 'udder'..... have LONG hair that grows from the top and hangs to just above their tittys. They have a bit tougher skin on their 'bags' because they are not 'milked' and are not housed in a barn. If they were housed in a shed/barn, they would not grow as much hair because it would not be as needed as when they are out in the cold. They have loafing sheds where they can get out of the rain and wind - we bed those heavily for them and often, at night when its cold they stand bunched together - calves to the inside of the group useing body heat to keep warm. BUT, during the day when the sun is out even when its frigid - They stand outside in the sun. They have enough body heat that you can see steam come off of their backs! Anyway - I better get going. The Milk Man told me last night to take a picture of the barn cloths in the winter - this was just from the Milk Man, Palmer and Dale - Lispy and Big Son stayed in the farm house with Granny Farmer eating popcorn and drinking chocolate milk, rough life huh. Milk Man told me to stay home with the baby and 'get somthing done' he says with a grin. I love his grin and his eyes always have a sparkle in them, unless I have backed the truck into somthing - then not so much. So after all that rambleing here is the picture of the barn cloths from ONE DAY!









This is Palmer holding Milk Dud....


And this is Palmers coat full of feed 'gunk'.

This stuff coats the inside of the silo that is filled with high moisture corn. When its cold it has to be chisled off of the walls because the silo unloader cant get it off with the ice in it. The reason there is ice in it is because 'high moisture' has, well - high moisture content..make sense? I hope so, not sure if I can explain it any better than that! It can be hard to get the cloths clean at times and now I am down to one washing machine. The one that is less than a couple of years old died - we have fixed that bugger 3 times and it still wont work right. I will NEVER buy a Maytag EVER again. If they ever give me one to try, I will take it though! LOL We cant afford to buy a new one so the one washer I have left is taking the brunt of the work for me. It makes it a lot harder, especially in the winter with all the extra cloths.

I also have to post later today about a special lady that gave me an award and a gal that gave me an award that I need to get to know better! The kids are hungry so I had better get them fed. NO SCHOOL TODAY!!!! *bangs head on the desk*