Here at WildWoods we just went through an icy winter storm where the temperatures plunged to a low of 17 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill of 8 degrees. It rained, snowed and sleeted off and on for three days. The wind was howling and cut like a knife, my hands would burn and ache from the cold when I took off my gloves outside. The well froze up with a space heater and heat lamp on in the well house and we made do until it thawed. As hard as it was on us the storm was much harder on the livestock and wildlife. One must always remember to give some extra care to your livestock and the wildlife in such a storm. I have a good friend that braved the cold on his tractor and brought my sheep a round bale of oat hay, I also put out plenty of mineral and an all natural protein tub lick to help them through. Each morning when I checked on them I took them some extra grain to make it worth while to leave the shelter of the cedar breaks for a few minutes. Shelter is very important to provide for livestock and here at WildWoods we have natural cedar breaks or thickets that block the wind and our sheep spent most of the storm in the thickest part. We kept five feeders going for the wildlife. The deer, turkeys, dove and quail along with numerous song birds, were there waiting as the timed feeders went off twice daily. My uncle runs cattle on the place to the east of us and he was putting out hay and fed extra range cubes to help his cows in the extreme cold. All the livestock made it through the storm and seem to be none the worse for it. I heard of other people loosing stock and I believe the difference is in the rancher that provides a little extra care when it is needed.
The sun came out and it warmed back into the upper 30's so my brother and I took advantage and did a little work. We hung some new metal gates and put together a skinning rack with a boat trailer crank to lift whatever we are dressing out at the time. We now have a place to skin deer, sheep or hogs and be able to hang them without a whole lot of trouble. Now I need to go out and get a fat deer for the Christmas Chili and BBQ. Hope you made it through the storm just fine, Wild Ed
Living in Castle Rock, Colorado now it was really cold here for about 6 days. -7 at night single digits during the day. I noticed Deer tracks in our side yard snow. They are spreading out to find food. I threw out some apples for the bunnies and found some Crows landing to eat them and carry off the pieces. Will try to get some more leftovers for the animals. My little dog goes in the fenced back yard by herself so I only do food for the Forgers not the meat eaters. Keep up the good work Ed.
ReplyDeleteTom J