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Polar Vortex - Extreme Cold Farm Ops Tips

Around The Farm
#41

Ah I’m glad it came back on!
If power outages are fairly common than I would definitely look into a proper generator. I may be biased since SO is an electrician, but my recommendation is to purchase it from a licensed electrician and have them install it. Have them maintain it for you.
Around here there are dealers who can’t actually work on the generators themselves, they get someone from out of town to install them. Then when there’s a problem they tell the customer “sorry, can’t help you”.

The power has only gone out once at our place in since we’ve lived here. We just have the smaller generator that SO takes to job sites.
The power goes out at my parents farm several times every year, and can take days to get restored. They’ve got generators hard wired for the house and barn.

#42

Neck gators make all the layers work better and enable the removing of a layer easier when it warms a bit.

Check out excellent extreme weather accessories at Turtle Fur -

Be Smart & Stay Safe !

1 Like
#43

regarding electrical power supply, back in 1977 in Kentucky we lost power mutiple times due extreme cold contracting overhead power lines that resulted in breaking of lines/poles and connections.

For copper conductors, the change in length within a temperature range of 100′ to 0° is over 5 feet per 1000 feet; for aluminum the change is almost 7 feet.

#44

How is everyone holding up?

@foggybok I’m glad your power was restored!! Yikes!

It was 3 degrees this morning, “real feel” of -10 but barn was still close to 30…BUT my faucet in the barn froze :weary: It’s wrapped in heat tape so I have no idea what happened. Thankfully there’s another hydrant 50’ from the barn so I got my workout lugging buckets back and forth!

2 Likes
#45

Re: generators. One year, when my parents and MIL still lived in houses on our property (everyone having their own place was one reason we bought this farm), power went out for 4 days. We had (and still have) a hard wired automatic generator on our house, so everyone came up here and stayed with us. At least we had heat, some lights and a microwave! I was checking all the other houses and barn every couple of hours and running water etc. Once that was over, we decided never again. We were lucky to have an electrician who suggested that when he had a client who was upgrading their existing generator, he’d let them know we’d buy their old one (if it was in good shape, of course). So that’s what we did, and we have enough generator power to keep 4 houses and the barn in lights, heat and refrigerators. And I get to sleep when the power goes off!

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#46

Woke up to -20F with a “feels like” of about -35F.

Opened up the upper barn to let the 2 barn cats out and Sam refused to come out of their insulated/heated box. :laughing:

We don’t have a heated tack room and needed something a little better than a heat lamp/heated bed for the cats, so my husband built an insulated box out of essentially scrap lumber/plywood, put a cat flap on it and a Hound Heater. Works great! https://akomapetproducts.com/product-category/hound-heater/

It warmed up to about -5 so I bundled up to go pick the paddock. After about 20 minutes I was sweating so had to take my jacket off, but had icicles on my eyelashes and my fingers were cold. Took a selfie to make those of you in temperate climates jealous. LOL

Winter
Winter2316×3088 993 KB

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#47

yeah, when we lived in WA we had quite a few, and they took days to restore since we were the end of the line. Here, we are in an area more likely to get fast service. We’ve has a few outages, but none were that long… But, it only takes 1! If I did it, it would be a serious one.

#48

I was surprised when I went out this morning. It was still 15 below real temp when I went to pick stalls, but I wasn’t really cold at all. Multiple layers of course! The best thing was my hands stayed warm and this was a surprise as the new gloves I bought didn’t seem as good as my last pair… but today, no issues. Have boxes of hand and foot warmers everywhere, but didn’t need them.

3 Likes
#49

thanks, i was quite happy we got the power back!

Sorry about your frozen faucet, that’s the worst! Hope you get it running again!

#50

Never made it above zero today but no wind, so it really wasn’t bad. I was outside for about 4 hours in total, wasn’t cold at all. I did have to change out my gloves because they got wet from filling the water trough. Getting through metal gates with wet gloves is fairly comical, I kept freezing to the gate and would use one hand to peel the other hand off the gate, and then THAT one would be stuck. :laughing:

1 Like
#51

Oh, my, we are right now skirting those cold fronts, but supposed to get them next week, will be down to 0F.

Not trying to make you jealous, but was feeding and cleaning pens and it was right down toasty at 71F right now, was looking for rattlers, just in case some were also enjoying the sun.

Crazy weather for us, should be around 45-50F for a high now, but not complaining.

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#52

Bummer about the hydrant! I’ve successfully unfrozen a mild case by duct-taping a few saddle pads around it to form a column-- but not snug, allow a few inches of airspace on all sides. Then prop a hair dryer running on low into the top of your “tube” and just let it run all day. (Assuming your hydrant isn’t inside the barn, of course. Mine’s out in the open where I have zero concerns if it were to short out or something)

Or, get a blowtorch and run that up and down the pipe.

#53

A hair drier also works some times.

A cutting torch is quicker.

#54

What type of faucet? Is it a frost-free hydrant (handle that goes up/down) or a twist off/on? I’ve got lots of tips for thawing/troubleshooting a frozen frost-free hydrant! LOL

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#55

I just looked at our weather station, we were -22 last night. I degree away from the record…

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#56

My horses probably don’t think I love them… Most of the weekend, we’ve had a “feel like” temp of about -20F to -35F. My horses do not have a run-in shelter and I don’t even have a barn yet. They have a windbreak and some good hills to get behind. They have a round bale out and an automatic heated water fountain. I do not own a blanket. We live in North Dakota.

I sometimes worry about them … then I look out the window and see them standing out on the hill. In the wind. By their own choice. Then I don’t worry about them anymore, LOL.

This afternoon, even though bitterly cold, Shotgun was laying down taking a nap, which I interupted to check on them. Didn’t honestly feel too bad. Very little wind, and full sunshine. Air temp about -10F (feeling like about -25F).

But both of my boys are fat and healthy and don’t currently need anything extra. Next year they will have a run-in shelter. And someday a barn. Until then, they get to rough it!

So very little work for me. Just need to put a new round bale out when they need it. And check the fountain to make sure it hasn’t froze (although it’s brand new so it shouldn’t … but just in case). I def building the place little by little, with LESS WORK in mind.

3 Likes
#57

I always have to think that whenever we say things like “it isn’t that bad/cold” during single digit F and below temps people who live in warmer areas think we’re nuts. :joy:

But relatively speaking, I find it so much more comfortable/tolerable when the temps fall and the air gets dry. The worst time of the year for me is when it’s hovering in the 30s-45 and rainy/damp. That is when I get cold, and that’s also the only time I’ve ever seen my horses be cold. I will put a sheet/blanket on them if it’s 42 and raining because otherwise they’d be shivering and miserable but on days like today they’re happy as clams with their puffed up coats.

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#58

It’s a twist on/off type and has frozen each time it’s gotten down to the single digits this year, and then will work fine once it warms up, so I’m not sure what is happening. I need to get a plumber out to look at it, but I wrapped it in heat tape after it froze last time thinking that could help but apparently not! This is the faucet in my wash rack, but I do have two frost free hydrants outside the which ARE working, thank god!!!

1 Like
#59

I don’t know if these have been mentioned but they work great.

https://www.amazon.com/HotHands-Insole-Foot-Warmers-Activated/dp/B001UQXAT6/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=foot+warmer&qid=1612803173&s=sporting-goods&sr=1-4

And layers, layers, layers. Don’t wait until you’re wet with sweat to adjust.

We’re ok at our place. Lofted hay + R5 insulation means that even when outside temps are 5F, inside it’s not dropped below 22F yet. The doors are bastards though - with the ground swollen from the hard freeze they’re really hard to open and require a hip check or two. I love the sound of the horses’ feet in this type of snow. Squeak squeak squeak!

2 Likes
#60

This one isn’t specific to the cold, but to the snow that often comes with:

If you store your hoses on the ground, make sure you know where they are before any significant snowfall!

I’d forgotten :rofl: Out of practice, we don’t get the big snows here in CT that we saw in MN! Had to pull up the Arlo footage today to figure out exactly where that one hose was so I could dig it out :thinking:

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