Bitter Cold

It's been bitterly cold for an entire week now and I'm ready for summer!  I realize that some people have to live with this kind of weather for months at a time, but I'm not made to handle it.  That's why I live in the south! 

 Really, though, high temps. in the teens or single digits make farm chores much more difficult. To begin with, I have to bundle up to the point of immobility, then my gloves freeze to my hands after breaking the ice in the water tanks.  Next I get to have my face frozen in position (which is something like a snarl...not a good look to be stuck with!) due to the frigid wind whipping through my hair as I drive around on the 4-wheeler checking cows. (We have a John Deere Gator XUV, but it always seems to be broken down when you need it most.  Like when it's raining buckets or it's 0 degrees!) 

 Greg gets to repair some busted pipe and be soaked repeatedly while chiseling the ice out of the faucets of our watering system. The pipe is buried, but the faucets stub out to connect with hoses. If you unhook the hose, drain it and leave the water running slightly that solves a lot of the problem, but if you're water is coming from storage tanks that are above ground then you still run into some issues when the temperatures go negative.

On the bright side, we've had 3 of our best cows have heifer calves recently.  One was a Rotokawa Devon that was bred when we purchased her, so we weren't really sure when she was going to calve.  She picked a bad time...around 6:30 AM when it was about 9 degrees outside!  But she's a good mom and her calf is doing great.  She doesn't even seem to notice the cold. She was running and playing yesterday like it was springtime!  Maybe it's the fur coat.