As the boys are too excited to sit still, one beef delivery is made, and the monthly beef order drop off is postponed a weekend, we start to prepare for the snow and cold temperatures that are forecast for our area. Bobby starts up that tractor and puts out hay to all the livestock. The boys and I clean out horse stalls, lay down fresh bedding, and get the horses settled in their stalls for the snowy night ahead. All exposed water pipes are insulated or turned off and drained. The trucks get plugged in so they will start in the morning. Snow is not so bad; it is the cold temperatures that are so hard on us and the livestock. It’s not like living up north when snow is regular for farmers. After all, last week, we were in the high 60’s, and then this morning, it is a wind chill of 8 degrees! And it is not a nice insulating, fluffy snow; it is more like watery, ice snow. Then, the forecast has our area in the 60’s again two days later. So while we have to prepare maybe three times a year, we are not in constant preparation like up north. [Read more…]