Wet!

It started raining last night and has rained non-stop since then.  The forecast is for rain most of the week, then snow.  I think it has rained over .8 of an inch so far.  The temperature did make it above 40 degrees for a while today. 

Snow and lots of ice remain.  Melting is going very slow.  It seems as if the snow doesn't want to melt.  The ice that has been around for weeks now is a major annoyance.  I have to often be careful not to slip on the ice.  A few days ago I saw that Maria has a real bad limp in her back left leg.  Nothing looks broken.  I think she may have slipped on the ice and bruised or injured her leg.   So I put her in the corral to be with the heifers.  That way she doesn't have to walk much.  Ever since then she is always standing or laying when I see her so I don't know how her limp is currently.

Now today with all the rain, lots of water is standing all over.  With the ground frozen it has nowhere to go.  The area under the roofed area next to the barn is full of water.  To give the heifers and Maria a dry place to lay and sleep tonight I opened the entire corral to them.  That way they can lay in the loafing shed which is mostly dry.  In the summer I need to remember to fix/caulk some of the small holes in the roof so the area will be completely dry in the future.  But no standing water is in the loafing shed, just a few wet spots.

The rest of the cattle are out in the middle pasture.  They can lay under the trees which are snow free and somewhat dry.   Tomorrow I will have to haul out another large hay bale for them.  And I will have to scrap snow off for another area for the feeder.  I did have an extra area for the feeder but the land is not level and of course the extra spot has standing water.

This had been one of the icier Winters I can remember.   I can't wait until it warms up and melts the snow.  If a cow was bred the first day the bull could breed them, then March 10 will have a newborn calf.  I want it warm and dry for calving to happen.  Please let us have global warming!

River freezing again

It is the later part of February and the river is freezing again due to the recent cold temperatures.  The river had thawed out from the earlier Winter freeze.   I still am keeping the cattle in the loading corral even though that means more work for me to feed them small hay bales twice each day.

Cattle's drinking area is all frozen.

Patio wind damage

Since noon on Sunday the cold front's wind blew 20 to 30 mph with wind gusts up to 47 mph.  This morning I found one of the roof panels on the patio had blown off.  A while ago I had placed some bent steel fence posts on top of the patio roof to help when there was strong winds. As you can see one of the metal posts also blew off.   The ground is frozen but the wind was still able to drive the post into the frozen ground.

The wind is still blowing now.  Only around 20 mph with gusts in the upper 20s to 30 mph.  So it felt colder than what it actually was of 12 degrees above.   I'm letting the cattle stay in the corral and out of the wind in the loafing shed.  Tomorrow the wind is predicted to be less.  I hope so.

Heifer photos in the sun

Sun came out this afternoon in the Valley.  In the mountains all around the Valley there were large solid thick blue clouds.  The weather forecast has snow, wind and cold coming tomorrow for the week.  In the sun here are photos of the heifers.  They are doing really well.

Lightning Picasso.

The oldest heifer. When it was born back on January 30, 2021.

The oldest heifer.  Now.