After a second round of cold weather, I began being asked by friends and family, quite frequently, "How are the animals doing with these freezing temperatures for days at a time?". I must first say that I'm always touched that others are thinking about the safety and well-being of farm animals. It's easily assumed that they are all okay. We see them in the pastures while driving by in our warm, toasty cars. We see the horses in the fields as it's raining, and they just stand there. For hours. The cattle have the same expression on their faces whether it's cold or hot. How do they do it? Who suffers and who tolerates it well?
Before I begin my journey with an update on our animals, I will re-iterate how many, and what we have. In the front pasture, we have three ewe/sheep (who are all around the 1 year old mark), and two Great Pyrenees (Livestock Guard Dogs/LGD). In the back pasture, we have three full size donkeys. They are in separate pastures due to the fact that the donkeys sometimes run/chase after the sheep. The donkeys appear to do this mostly for fun and play, but we decided to not take any risks, and separated them in separate pastures. It works out well. Both of these pastures have access to shelter/cover for them all. We have a large run-in shed (20X26) for the donkeys, with the back wall facing the north so that north-wind does not bother them. The sheep and LGD's have access to the barn, which has a pen for them - all together. They do not get full-run of the whole barn, as they actually have a large-size "doggie-sheep" door they use to go inside the barn, into a fenced pen area inside the barn. Their pen has plentiful straw for the sheep, and two large dog beds for our protectors. And they all know whose place is whose in the pen. The sheep do not sleep on the dog beds, for some reason. Which is a good thing, as the dogs really deserve those comfortable places for all the hard work they do.
We house two chicken coops inside the barn as well. When we first moved here, we had the chicken coops outside like normal people do. We discovered that extreme cold, rain and/or harsh sunshine during the summer were all reasons to place these coops inside the barn, and allow the chickens to free range on their own accord. They come and go out of the barn on their own. If they want to be inside (for any reason), they can do so. And at the same time, those chickens who wish to free range, can go outside and eat bugs, dust bathe and do chicken things. They come and go from the barn through several smaller openings that allow them to do so. They use their coops mainly for 1) sleeping at night, or 2) egg laying time. We have two coops because our community of chickens have included smaller, younger pullets that need time to adjust to the larger flock. So, we have a big girl coop and a little girl coop. Introducing new chickens to the flock is a process. Currently, we have 10 chickens. They are all hens, as rooster are not allowed by the Sheriff (my husband). When we have accidentally gotten a rooster (as a baby chick) they have grown up to be quite a disruption. So any accidental roosters we had, have found new homes (Thank you, Preston Trail Farms!), and they go on to live healthily, happy lives. With that said, our recent new additions, Daisy and Lily were not only meat chickens, but one was a rooster, and they now live on another farm. We have since gotten 4 new pullets (girl chickens) who will grow up to lay eggs. We named them Peaches and Creme, and Sugar and Spice. Peaches and Creme have joined the flock nicely, although not old enough to be egg layers yet.....but soon . Sugar and Spice are only 2 months old and will join the flock outside when weather permits. Until then, yes, they live inside a shower in a bathroom in our house. They have shavings, food, water and a perch, just like all the chickens before them have done. Until they are older and fully-feathered, it's best to keep them somewhere warm - and that's where we do it. In a shower. It's easy to clean, easy to access them (hold them!), and get them accustomed to our "way" here on The Graves Farm. The chickens that come through the house/shower route are often the chickens you are able to go pick up in the yard. They are tame, sweet and enjoy the love of people. Or at least tolerate people holding and petting them. When people visit and realize some of the chickens don't mind being picked up and held, those are the ones raised in our shower inside the house. Mind you, we do not shower in that shower while they are in there. It's strictly a chicken holding place, until young chicks grow up enough to be outside.
In addition to the sheep, LGD's, donkeys and chickens, we have 8 or 9 barn cats. Why am I not certain on the actual count? It's because we have one (sometimes two) barn cats that just appear. Sometimes they are around so much, we even name them. Then, we might not see them again for awhile. The barn cats that are permanent fixtures are: Fi, June Bug, July, Finn, Kitty, Smokey, Sweet Pea and Preston. There have been other cats that come and go, but we never know whose they are or where they came from. We have one big boy cat hanging around lately, taking up residence whom we named Boots. We see him now and then. But overall, most of these cats have been "gifted" to us. Friends or family who have a cat that they need to "get rid of" for various reasons. It's like a community of House-cats Gone Wild. People (they ask first) bring their cats here, and we give them a wonderful place to stay. They are well fed, have plenty of water, and find the abundance of cat beds and kitty climbers in the garage and barn enticing. They are all smart kitties. So smart, they learn how to come in the doggie door and into the house. That leads them into the laundry room, which is now called Cat Land. The door to the house (from the laundry room) is kept shut, as we do not want to live in Cat Land ourselves. But the laundry room provides a safe haven for any kitty who desires the next-best-thing to being inside a house. The laundry room has cat food, cat beds and water as well. They really only use it when it's cold, as when the weather is warm, and they enjoy sleeping outside.
Lastly, we have our two "inside" dogs, Bridgette and Maybe. They now live in Cat Land as well, as since that door is shut full-time now, there are actually no animals inside the house (except in the laundry room). The house is always much cleaner now since this has occurred. No animals in the house. It works for us.
Now, let's talk about this freezing weather for days on end. How is everyone doing?
1) The LGD's: Levi and Whisper are big dogs with lots of dog hair. Layers and layers of fur. That particular breed is meant to live outside and guard livestock. They are awesome. Period. Their fur coats provide the warmth they need, but I will say these cold temperatures have put them to the test. They have their dog beds available to them for comfort and warmth, in the pen area of the barn. They are protected from rain, sleet, and wind. They are up most of the night guarding the parameter of our property, making sure no predators cross the fence line. They are diligent and loyal. They protect the sheep instinctually. We could not have all our ancillary animals (chickens, barn cats and sheep) without them. They are the reason everyone else is alive and stays safe. They are churning through this winter, but I know nicer weather would make their lives more comfortable. Hang in there!
2) The sheep: Belle, Eve and Cotton have grown out their wool coats. They love this cold weather. I assume they think it's refreshing. The summer is so brutal for them, that this is a walk in the park. They stay outside much of the time, but if it's really cold and windy, or cold rain, or both, they are smart creatures and come inside their pen area in the barn (same area the dogs have their dog beds). This is their safe place - and their protection from the elements. We keep plenty of straw down for them to snuggle in if they do happen to be cold. It's hard to tell if they are cold? We have friends who also have sheep, and they have told me they already lost 2 of their sheep to this cold weather. So since I'm new to having sheep, all I can do is provide warm options for them, and a place to get out of the wind and rain, if they want to. And usually they do. They only like warm rain. Kinda like me.
3) The donkeys: Pumpkin (Mama), Papa and Baby (Pickles). These full size donkeys are amazing. Smart, funny, and full of personality. They play, love and communicate their needs well. They too, have grown out their coats. In the summer, they are pristine and smooth. In the winter, they have longer, scraggly hair, which they will shed in the Spring. We had a new shelter, a Run-In shed as it's called, built for them before this winter came. It's plenty big for them to get under, and they do. It's three-sided, with plenty of room for all three of them to get under when the north wind blows, or rain comes, or it's just plain cold and they want to settle into their straw. It's a place they can call their own.
4) The chickens: Ginger (head hen), Butterscotch (her right-hand man/hen), Pebbles, Pepper, Sunshine, Butter, Peaches, Creme, Sugar and Spice are all resilient. These girlz, wow. They are hardy, bright and a great flock of chickens. Everyone gets along, for the most part. They love free-ranging, and put themselves to bed at night - on their own. When dusk falls, they head to the barn to roost on their own special spots for the night. In this cold weather, they poof out their feathers and somehow use that technique to keep themselves warm. They don't often choose to go to the very inside of their coop, where it seems it would be the warmest place. Nope, they are fine with the cold temperatures. They have surprised me the most, in these frigid low teens of temps. They manage it just fine. Simply amazing. The biggest thing I've noticed is they lay less eggs in the winter. I'm told the reason for this is because there is less daylight hours, and that is needed for their egg production. We still get eggs each day, just less now that in the summertime.They require very little with this cold weather. We shut the barn doors more now with the colder weather, and shut all the barn windows to keep the draft down in the barn. That helps a lot!
5) The barn cats. Our community of cats is full of every personality you could imagine. Overall, they do well with each other. Some prefer the garage area, some prefer the barn and some prefer the laundry room. 5 of them are consistently in the laundry room during these cold spells. They go in and out through the doggie door, mostly sleeping inside on the cat beds we have placed strategically. This cold weather is not appealing to them. But they are all making it. In the garage, we have several heated cat beds available. Fi has claimed one, as July has claimed another. They all figure out what works best for them. We give them plenty of "warm" options.
Most importantly........how do we keep all our animals water sources from freezing?! Water is key for all our animals. We have invested in heated buckets and de-icer's in existing water buckets. These devices turn on and off automatically, to ensure the water in the bucket(s) does not freeze. It does not necessarily heat the water, but it keeps it from freezing. Magic. We have these in each pasture, in the barn, and in the garage, so that no one is without water during freezing times. This has made our life SO much easier. It took having a electrician to come out and assist us with new GFI plugs and other necessary adjustments, but is an investment that will pay-off each winter. As far as food goes, we do have to feed more during the winter, as nothing is growing for the animals to eat. We buy round bales of hay for the donkeys, alfalfa square bales for the sheep, and grain for everyone. This is only necessary during the winter months. We find this pretty easy to manage overall. Once you get a system in place, it runs itself with daily maintenance.
I'll close with one last thought. My favorite times of the day are morning and night feedings in the barn - even when it's 20 degrees out there. The love is overwhelming. No where else I'd rather be.
Ewe puuuurfect as ewe are,
Cyndi
