It's Minus "You've Got to Be Kidding Me" Out

When freezing cold temperatures come to Gael Glen Farm, we have to make some adjustments to our animal care routine to keep everyone healthy.

The donkey and sheep get fed grain in both the morning and evening instead of just once a day.  We also make sure that they have more than enough hay to munch consistently throughout the day and night.  The digestion process helps keep them warm so it is important that they eat, eat, eat.

Keeping the animals watered is the most annoying part of such cold weather.  The water buckets freeze completely and need to be brought indoors to thaw a bit in order to get the ice chunks out without breaking the buckets.  We have tried heated buckets but they are not meant to work in such super cold weather and after one almost burned the chicken coop down last year, I am not such a fan.

Animals need water to digest their hay and grain so keeping them in liquid water is a constant battle on these very cold days.  At least my outdoor taps have not yet frozen (fingers crossed!) because when they do, I have to begin carrying water from the house out to the barns.

We usually separate the mamas from the baby goats so that there is milk for us in the morning.  However, on very, very cold days, we leave everyone to snuggle together at night to reduce the risk of frostbitten ears.  It means no milk for us but lots of warm milk to fill the babies' tummies.  This is an easy sacrifice for us to make.

The chickens and ducks are the smallest animals here on the farm (not counting the honey bees, of course) and they are the most susceptible to severe cold.  On freezing cold days I keep their barn door closed - they would not venture out into the chicken run anyway.  I also switch on a heat lamp which keeps their coop pretty warm.  This keeps their water liquid (or at least slushy) and helps to avoid frostbite on their combs.  I also smear Vaseline on Beemster the rooster's very large comb to help stave off frostbite on the tips.  He is a very good sport about this and waits patiently for me to finish - maybe he likes the comb massage?

With everyone outside tucked in as warm as possible, we are hunkering down inside.  Dinner was a delicious pot roast with root vegetables - a homemade Christmas gift from Uncle Kyle and Uncle Shawn made from their own farm raised cattle.  The boys devoured this special meal, which was impressive since all three of them are sick with a cold.  

With Ian away this weekend hiking a mountain in the Adirondacks, I will be using a combination of patience and Paw Patrol to keep everything ticking along here on the farm; this is a huge treat since we are usually a TV-free household.  Hopefully it warms up a bit soon though, this weather is freezing us and our animals to the bone and I will not be impressed if I have to start lugging buckets of water out to the barns on top of everything else.