Ready For The Next Cold Wave?

[goodhors]

Weather news is real excited about the “Siberian Express” headed for Noth America. Coming right over the North Pole to lower temps a lot!

Our forecast is for low Temps after Friday, extending on into next week. Day highs 10-15F, night of single digit to below zero. So we are hustling around to be ready for that. Moving hay for easier access, spare hoses in the basement in case one freezes and breaks. Husband blows them out with the big air compressor after use, lets it blow for a while even if hose appears emptied. This seems to prevent icing in the skinny spots, where hoses are joined together, at the spigot end. Then he leaves hose lay on the ground outside until needed again. So far…, no frozen hoses doing this the last couple years! Sure a time saver not needing to roll them up and haul back to the basement or heated tack room after use.

Cords are located, placed to be handy if tractors need to be plugged in, warmed up before use. Diesels are cold hearted and such low Temps can be an issue if tractor is not used daily or has an older battery.

Water tank heaters are already in place, cords are run with the lighted end showing power is there. We only plug heaters in at night, no horses outside, so if heater has a short, horses are not affected. Plus nightly we put covers over the insulated boxes tanks are in, to hold heat in and using cheaper night time electric rates.

Spreader gets emptied right after stalls are cleaned to prevent freezing in the spreader. No frozen poop on the aisle floor, it sticks to the cement pretty quick when is moist.

Any locks that need some lubrication, thawing out? I use spray graphite as my lubricant, not WD-40, which is not actually a lubricant, though often used as one. You need to get any water or ice out of padlocks before it freezes down hard. Don’t want the key to break off inside the lock in the deep cold! Other posters on here have recommended using those little flame torches to warm their locks in the cold. Sure would save your hands trying to warm up a lock! Perhaps the fire starters for grills could work as lock heaters, though they would be short-lived with small fuel anounts.

Got any mittens? You may want to dig those out for chores. Fingers together are warmer than fingers seperated like in gloves. Maybe buy some heat packs for gloves and boots, just don’t get burned with them on skin. Saw some TSC leather mittens with zipper backs for the heat pacs, which are a new idea in their glove and mitten lineup. Mittens are clumsy, but better than frozen glove fingers! Heat pacs seem to be available in farm stores, sporting goods stores and in the sporting goods area of box stores.

Got enough extra fuel for the tractor, generator if you have a small one? Propane tanks are pretty full for the furnace? Wood piled close to the house if the electric goes out?

Cars and trucks get windshield washers filled, salty roads here leave windshields pretty grubby very quickly. You PROBABLY want to remove any water bottles, so they don’t freeze, blow out, making a frozen mess in your vehicles. My sealed water bottle put up a good fight staying unthawed over several cold days and nights. Gave up to be mostly frozen yesterday at 14F. Got it out just in time!

Do you have an emergency pack in your vehicles? Extra hats, coats, hand covers, snack bars, blankets? A small shovel, flares, tow strap and battery cables? Do you know how to use the tow strap and cables if needed? Check out U-tube for handy tips and information on how to attach things in the proper order, not kill the battery. I upgraded to heavy duty battery cables when I got a diesel truck, they push a LOT of power thru those cables. We have needed to jump start the diesel tractor with old battery. Battery got replaced the same day! People often stop to help on the road in bad conditions, especially out in farm country. But YOU need the equipment with you so they can give you aid.

I am ahead on the milk and eggs! May bake now that Christmas stuff is gone! Ha ha Sewing projects, repair-needed-items are waiting for me. Good job for cold days.

Anyone else have recommendations for preparing things around the farm or home to be ready for the predicted cold sweep?

[sascha]

@goodhors

You PROBABLY want to remove any water bottles, so they don’t freeze, blow out, making a frozen mess in your vehicles.

Totally not necessary. I leave water and/or Gatorade in my car year round. They don’t blow out when frozen. The biggest PITA is having to have the seat heater on high and a frozen bottle shoved between my thighs to thaw one out if I get thirsty. Fizzy drinks are another matter - they may blow out if it gets cold enough.

My winter coats (for the barn) stay in my car all winter along with a spare clean horse blanket or cooler, several pairs of gloves that are too heavy/bulky for the barn, ear warmers, scarf, hat, and my warmest toughest boots.

Phone stays charged.

Gas tank stays at least half full.

@goodhors

We only plug heaters in at night, no horses outside, so if heater has a short, horses are not affected.

Keep an eye that this is sufficient to keep them de-iced during the day if the cold snap carries on over several days.

Otherwise, meh, I’m Canadian and it’s winter. We’ll bitch and complain and just carry on. It’s highly unlikely I ever need to stock up on anything from the grocery store - especially just for a cold snap without feet of snow.

I do use remote start for my car if it’s outside though. But even if not, modern door locks that work with a fob are the bomb - no need to worry about lock de-icer

@goodhors

Anyone else have recommendations for preparing things around the farm

Old blankets (horse or otherwise) at the interior bottom of barn doors will stop a great deal of draft.

If buckets in stalls are likely to freeze and you’re breaking out ice daily, invest in Horsemans Pride and a good rubber mallet. You can beat the ever loving shizzle out of those buckets (hammer on them from the outside) and they will not break. Pick your ice pile location ahead of time - somewhere closeish to the door, but out of the way enough that as the weather warms and the pile thaws and freezes, it doesn’t create a giant hazard.

[Calvincrowe]

We may finally get a bit of cold here in the western PNW region. It has been remarkably mild (and wet) for most of the fall and early winter. We have only seen below 32 maybe twice at our place. Lots of wind if it isn’t foggy and gray and wet and cloudy and raining… I’d love a bit of a hard freeze and maybe some snow. I doubt we will get it though. Hang in there-- it sure has been a rough winter for some areas so far.

[Texarkana]

I’m just tired of this. It’s warmer in Anchorage, AK than it is in the mid-Atlantic.

My beloved expandable hose burst at the start of the last cold snap. It served me well for many winters, so I ordered the exact same one off Amazon as a replacement. But it STILL hasn’t shipped.

[Jackie_amp_Starlette]

Meanwhile here is West Michigan…

[clanter]

I read the horses we have from North Dakota their old home forecasts… Monday Jan 20th high is to be minus 14F with a low of minus 19Fwhich makes our forecast of high of 33Fand a low of 21F seem like a trip to the tropics

[theresak]

I’m in Wisconsin and pretty much everywhere else has had more snow than us this year, but we’re going to get a high of 2F next Monday, low of -11, with up to 20 mph winds, so it’ll be cold. I keep boots, carhartt overalls, an extra jacket, hat, mittens, and hot hands in my car all winter.

About 6 years ago when we had the terrible polar vortex multiple times (the high temp those days was -20F something), I would put on my carhartts, etc. in my house and drive to the barn in them and leave my car running while I treated my horse’s cellulitis before I drove home. I also texted someone when I was leaving and arriving because if I got in an accident and no one found me quickly, the cold would have been dangerous.

It’s really about dressing in the right layers and figuring out how to keep my hands and face warm. I can deal with really cold feet and cold ears but cannot handle it when my hands or face are really cold.

Oh also remembered - start with warm mittens and have a second pair for your hands somewhere they can stay warm so you can swap out when your hands get cold. We have a heater in the tack room so I’ll put a pair of gloves on the heater, do as much as I can with my mittens on, and when the mittens are dexterous enough (saddling and bridling), I can swap to the warm gloves. Then back to the mittens which have warmed up on the heater.

[AllTheCarrots]

I curried the Goober tonight and he’s shedding. I know, I know — that process is dictated by light levels more than temperature, and (at least where I am), we’re closing in on that magical 10-hours mark that really kicks things into gear. But… c’mon, dude. You don’t want to do this right now. Trust me.

[Arelle]

I’m in North Texas and… this sucks.

We had quite a bit of snow last week (for us). It melted and everything is now mud. I turned out my horses today - they’re tearing up my winter grass and they’re disgusting, but I was so tired of them rearing and kicking the stall walls inside.

I have a miniature donkey who has been in my too-small-equine-mini blanket during the latest cold snap. It’s a 46’’ and he’s doing his best “fat guy in a little coat” impression – but it’s better than shivering. I found a 48’’ with a neck cover during the after-christmas blowout, which arrived today so I think he’ll be prepared for next week.

I bought new expandable hoses last week - they’re my saving grace during this weather. If I keep all of mine inside, the barn generally stays warm enough to not have water freeze. Knock on wood - everyone has kept good/normal water intake during the last week. My windows all open to the south, so there’s airflow, but no chill to freeze buckets or troughs solid - which happens to my tanks out in the pastures. I haven’t had to break ice thus far - hoping to continue the trend. I still have PTSD from not having power for three days in 2021. #thankstexas

[Sdel]

No. And the fact that the weather app changes its mind every 5 minutes isn’t helping. Right now we are set to get pretty decent chances of snow and some other form of wet stuff for three days. The last cold snap was dry and the day temps above freezing, so all the prep was in blanketing.

I cleared the trailer and stocked up on hay and shavings so I won’t have to go out. I have a couple of troughs I pulled up from unused areas. I will try to do some insulating for the days it’s dry enough for them to be out. I will also try to keep one in the barn where I can use a space heater to thaw and draw water from if needed. We have stocked up on water for our personal use. We are on well, and it will probably go out. Our power company is pretty good so we shouldn’t have any sustained outages; barring another state-wide failure of course.

Right now the big question will be if the horses will be in, out, or open to their decision. I only have two medium and 1 heavy blanket; no neck covers or liners.

[endlessclimb]

@Sdel

Right now the big question will be if the horses will be in, out, or open to their decision

This is my conundrum. I think I will force the issue a little and only have inside hay, remove the stuff outside, so if they’re hungry they have got to come in (out of the wind), but the doors are open if they’re totally committed to going out in it.

Doing it this way makes it where I can just make sure the trough is clean, full, and the heater is on - no need to have individual buckets for each stall.

[beau159]

@goodhors

Weather news is real excited about the “Siberian Express” headed for Noth America. Coming right over the North Pole to lower temps a lot!

Our forecast is for low Temps after Friday, extending on into next week. Day highs 10-15F, night of single digit to below zero.

Cold is relative.

Our snap coming up is going to have air temps -20 * F and wind chills approaching -50 * F.

I live in North Dakota. We’re used to this so I don’t have anything to “get ready”. It’s winter. We’re already ready.

And… my horses don’t wear blankets (thankfully do not need them) and are out 24/7.

[ParadoxFarm]

In TN we have a reprieve here for a couple days. Today it will be 59º!! I plan to get out and ride. Tomorrow will be 50º, so not bad, then Sunday into the 20s. Boo.

[2DogsFarm]

Have I mentioned I am OVER Winter?
Temps have been rollercoastering here since October when we got our first snow.
Since then, not much precip, currently 3ish inches on the ground & today’s forecast high 30s will compact that down further.
I had the shoer coming Tuesday this week, but single-digit forecast had us reschedule for next week… When the forecast is even worse
So he’s going to try to get here when we get the “warm-up” to 20s after Tuesday next week.
Horse & pony are okay, but I like to keep the mini on a 5wk schedule & he’ll be at 7
I’m feeding hay like there’s no tomorrow, putting a flake or 2 outside, out of whatever wind we get.
Eyeballing the loaded wagon in my indoor, I’m good through February.
Horses are out more than in, by their choice.
When I do my 9-10P nightcheck the lights going on brings them in for the cookies they know are waiting. I get to put eyes on everyone & sleep better for that.
Heatlamp is keeping the hydrant inside the barn working, heated buckets in the stalls & sinking de-icer outside are keeping everything liquid.
I’m down to my last 2 bags of the good shavings from the Amish guy in Middlebury
55# bags that will go into the 2 big stalls tomorrow when the deepfreeze arrives.
Mini only seems to use his stall to eat his grain, so no refresh needed.
With possible 20-below windchills, I may even blanket. Though that seems to be more for my Peace of Mind than what horses need.
All have good thick coats, mini is a total yak.

Chickens are not happy with snow, no tracks in their fenced yard, but the chicks I got in August have started laying
Blue & olive green eggs, pullet-sized, but I’m not unhappy.

For the Uber-Cold I’ll switch to my down Eddie Bauer jacket & the tech fabric camo beanie I hate because it makes my pinhead (6-7/8) more apparent. But it’s warmest, so…
Oddly I’m happiest in fingerless knit Dollar Tree gloves 🤷
Backup is tech fabric insulated gloves that are clumsy for chores, but beat frozen fingers. They’re rarely called into action.

STAY WARM, EVERYONE!
62 DAYS UNTIL SPRING

[Annie10]

I
Love him

[Annie10]

I’m in N FL so nowhere near the prep some of you have but at my farm we have been having hard freezes every night except 2 for the last couple of weeks. So I’m having to do lots of very un FL like things like leaving pipes drip , having the pool pump running all night instead of during the day, having a herd of dogs in the house over night , bringing in an insane amount of firewood (our fireplace is a wood burning stove with blowers so it helps heat the house plus keeps some of the dogs out of my bed lol) .
The other day it was in the 30s all day and cold gross rain then a freeze again that night.

All of that said, our weather guys are saying we may actually get snow next week.
We get flurries here a lot more than people think late at night, but nothing sticks. The last real snow here was in 1989 and everything ground to a halt .

[Mosey_2003]

It’s been really mild here as far as winter is concerned, a few really brisk days. But Sun-Mon-Tue are set to be downright gross, highs in the single digits and lows in the negatives. I don’t like it. The chickens don’t either, some of them will likely lose some comb tips to frostbite out of their own stubbornness. I have two Leghorns that refuse to roost on the actual, sheltered roost board and prefer to lodge themselves up next to the window, I’m sorry but that’s on them. Next year will be better after I build the new, large coop I have planned and will have some sheltered uber-high roosts just for those flakes.
As far as preparation, it’s pretty much winter as usual but I will make sure the gas tank is full again despite likely not going anywhere. Maybe get some extra bales of shavings, going to evaluate the coop and pens to see if anyone needs to be mucked out tomorrow ahead of it. Dump and fill the waters, heaters have been going. Check on the dogloo and make sure the straw is dry, probably shove some more in there for him to kick out later I don’t like leaving him out in such cold weather but he gives dad too hard of a time to leave him in the house all day while I’m at work so…honestly HE doesn’t mind, he likes it. But I feel bad.

[NancyM]

We normally get the cold winters… -30C is normal, -40C is cold. This year, it’s been a joke… so easy. My horses are still turned out for winter, grazing our second crop off the big hay field from under a few inches of snow. They will come in soon, and start being fed hay outside their communal shed which they don’t use much. I don’t think that we are going to get a lot of this upcoming cold wave, I think it mostly descends south to the east of us. But we will probably get a bit of it at least, which is OK and not a problem. The auto waterers have had heat turned on since late fall, to stop them from freezing- but I don’t think they have used much electricity because it’s been so warm. In this area, keeping horses in stalls is counterproductive and dangerous for horses. They need to be able to move, to run around together, to warm up in winter. The coldest and most dangerous place to keep a horse in dry cold weather is standing alone in a stall. We always have dry cold. It’s horse country. We moved here to escape keeping horses in wet cold. It was -36C the first year we were here. It was an eyeopener for me.

[Sdel]

I think I’m going to have to go with in, at least while actively precipitating. If it was just my two, I wouldn’t be so worried about it. They are easily separated into stalls for food and when done will politely share a stall. But I have recently borrowed a third….and he wants to stand with the other two…and they don’t all fit or politely share with him yet. The last time I gave them an in/out choice for nasty weather I came out and he was standing in the heavy rain just outside the run where the other two were. Led him into a stall, just 12 ft away from the run, and he was back in the rain after just two minutes.

[endlessclimb]

I feel like this depends if they have a windbreak they will actually use (ie, the food is in the windbreak). If they don’t, forcing them to stay out of the wind in brutal cold is not a bad idea.

Ymmv. My hay sits in a windbreak from southern winds. If the wind comes from the west, they’re screwed.