ICE...My Gawd!!!

I had an old plumber one time tell me..."Water will always win". I took that to heart, because he was right.

I've talked here often about how hard water is to deal with, especially for the animals.

Well, we have been dealing with frozen "everything" the past 4 weeks. The temps at night have not been above 10F, and mostly in the negative range. It's been so cold we haven't been able to get water to the animals (i.e. frozen hoses, frozen stock tanks and frozen everything).

So today was desperate measures. We'd hauled hundreds of feet of hoses inside the house. We'd strung large gauge (expensive) electrical cords (700+ feet of them). it's just been flat-ass COLD, for a very, very, long time!! We've strung heaters; done just about everything imaginable to battle the cold...and the cold is winning.

Let me tell you something...water will always win! It always will. Ice is the most miserable thing to deal with known to man. I honestly think lava would be easier...than ice.

From our upper corrals to our lower corrals is a gradient of about 300' vertically. Hike up and down that hill, in the snow and ice a few hundred times in a day and it will make a man TIRED. Slipping and sliding, trying to clear hoses...it's just endless!

I love raising cattle, always have. Howver, there's one thing I don't like, and that's dealing with water. I'll wade through cow-crap two feet deep and love it, but water always SUCKS! It just always SUCKS! It's heavy, it's uncooperative, it leaks, it goes where you don't want it to.

Water is the single most important thing to humans and livestock, and it is the single most difficult and unpleasant thing to deal with.

That is all.

I used my ice fishing auger to drill through the ice in one of the stock tanks today. (just to get the cows some water, any water)

The ice is over 2 FEET thick. I damn near drilled through the bottom of the tank!

I've had big wattage submersible heaters in the tanks all day, and there's still only about 1" of water melted.

The ice is just incredible!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

What will happen if you cannot thaw more, and if it doesn't get warm soon?
How many head of cattle are you talking about?

It seems like just yesterday the temps were in the 60's, and then the bottom fell out almost overnight.

Now we're kicking through snow over the tops of our boots, temps below zero and wind chills in the minus -40F ranges.

Had to put chains on my skid steer loader to even get hay to the animals earlier this week. Had to plow snow with the hay bale on the forks on the front to even get through. Snow drifts over 7 feet tall, and average snow depths of 18"+. The dogs can't even walk through it (they just disappear...which they think is cool).

It snowed so hard last Thursday, like nothing I had ever seen before. I got lost one time at Grand Targhee ski resort in Idaho once in a snow storm (that was the worst I'd ever seen). This was worse. It snowed 5" in 10 minutes. Never seen anything like it. Good thing I was driving my Subaru, and not my truck. That Subaru will go through ANY-THING! I did have to stop though...just too much snow.

My wife went out today, four days later and was out busting snow drifts in the skid loader. There are piles 15' tall just from the snow in front of our out building. We now have piles higher than the cab on the big tractor.

Love the snow. Love the moisture...but then the wind picks up. Then it's not so fun!!

If your barns are vented you may consider the large torpedo heaters that burn fuel oil, or diesel. Just make sure to have a barrier between the output, and the livestock.

I hate when livestock suffers like that.

A good Co2 monitor is also highly recommended.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

What will happen?

I will truck water, warm water, in a tanker.

Head count - Anywhere from 20 - 50 (just a small operation).

a reply to: Realtruth

Trust me, I will die before the animals ever suffer!!

I will!!

NEVER GIVE UP!!

You have got to move. That's crazy living.

Florida is a great cattle ranch state for a reason. Yes, it gets hot but at least we have water anytime of the year.

Lived in Minnesota for 20 years. Done. Done. Done.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: Realtruth

Trust me, I will die before the animals suffer!!

I will!!

NEVER GIVE UP!!

We don't have cattle anymore, but one year in Michigan we actually lined the entire north-wall side of the barn, with bales of hay, and we were able to keep the temps stable, in the barns. A couple weeks later, an A-hole State-farm rep sent us a cancellation letter, because we stacked them against the outside, of our 60 x 60 Morton barn.

It was a great wind barrier, and we ended up with a better policy too from someone else.

a reply to: Justso

This is an easy state to raise cattle compared to my home, Wyoming!

Every time it gets tough here, I just think about how much tougher it used to be in WY. And, then I can just laugh off the hardship.

Minus -15F at 6am is easy compared to minus -35F at Noon with a wind chill of minus -125F and winds of 50mph, gusting to 70mph.

a reply to: Realtruth

HA...that's cool!

I'd do the exact same thing! If, it ever came to it.

Screw those insurance agents, they don't know squat!!

Ours is cool as heck!!

ETA...we built snow shelters for our cattle. They go in there all the time and snuggle up together. You can walk in one of them, in the frosty morning, and it's like 80 degrees in there from their body heat. And, it's funny, the rotate, so the outside guy/gal will come into the center. All our shelters face south (only a madman would face one north).

Water is very powerful, it's strength is time.

Anyway, I seem to recall you are out west a bit(montana?). Anyway, today was nice here, high of about 5. next few days we'll see highs of only -10 with lows around -30, a nice breeze could give us wind chills in the -50's.

I can't imagine caring for animals in this weather. I have a hard time walking between the truck and the liquor store when it's this cold.

a reply to: MisterSpock

Colorado now, but close.

Grew up in Wyoming.

Less than a month from now we'll have calves.

Every morning, every night, walking the fields...no matter the weather.

And then the adventure will start all over again!

Last year, I spent two weeks sleeping in a stock trailer with an orphaned calf. No heat, just me, him and a couple bales of straw. It was touch and go with him for a few days, poor little guy. We both nearly froze to death together. I wouldn't leave him, and my wife completely freaked out. He lived from the body heat. (and I froze my ass off). He was so weak I'd pull him inside my sleeping bag...a freaking calf!

Sorry, I digress...

The ice is 'hard' (literally and metaphorically).

To me, February and March are always the coldest months (they are in Wyoming), but in Colorado it's January. Man, it gets cold, and it gets cold FAST. Freezes the ground, freezes everything...it's like a lightning bolt.

Now I'm chipping ice off the cows in the mornings, tossing ice off their hay...breaking ice on their water. Today I took an 8 lb. sledge hammer to the ice, and it wouldn't even break the ice!!!! Hence the ice fishing auger to get them some water.

Next week it will probably be about 75F...cuz, that's just Colorado.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I have to say this Clay, you are one hard working man who is so kind and compassionate with your animals. Kudos!

a reply to: Night Star

NS,

They mean everything to me. They give everything, including their lives.

The least I can do is make their lives less than miserable, perhaps even comfortable.

I owe them that much, no matter how hard.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: Justso

This is an easy state to raise cattle compared to my home, Wyoming!

Every time it gets tough here, I just think about how much tougher it used to be in WY. And, then I can just laugh off the hardship.

Minus -15F at 6am is easy compared to minus -35F at Noon with a wind chill of minus -125F and winds of 50mph, gusting to 70mph.

Do you feel guilty eating your cattle after taking so good care of them?

a reply to: musicismagic

Well, that's an interesting question requiring an answer. I'm intrigued now specially since Night Stars response and the skiing thread.

Kind regards Bally.

How bad is that....I immediately thought you had illegal immigrants in your barn.