power lines

 The power coop did keep the lines up through the snow and high winds last week.  We have had some less than wonderful experiences with the power coops on our solar effort, because they over invested in coal and thus took away from their management much of the ability to make good decisions for the customers.

But the coops take a back seat to no one in utility service on maintenance and daily management.  Considering the huge distances they cover and amounts of assets they have exposed to all weather, they are without peer in service.  We could be stuck with Texas level carelessness and incompetence.  That we are not makes me grateful. 

Quieter day

 Wind is down today and the snow predicted is falling gently.  Probably not a good idea to get back to snow clearing just yet.  Temps are positive for the first time in days too.  Cattle are lying further apart now and not even grouping so close when they are standing.  They lie where they are rather than seeking out the windbreak.

I may have seen the pheasant Andrew saw with the pigs the other day, running across the pasture, so this one didn't die in the wind.  Drifting snow is dangerous for them because they tend to hunker down against the wind and sometimes can get drifted over deep enough not to be able to break through.  This can be seen in spring.  Pheasant carcasses sometimes line the inside slope of the windward side of the drainage ditches, where they are huddled against the wind. 

gray snow

 At 4:30 I started awake, looked at the diminishing light and went to the back to get all the clothes on.  Stopping by the shop on the way to the young calves at the west windbreak, I got the tractor started, set the throttle at just less than half and left it to idle, hoping to keep it warm enough so that it would start to power the alternator if the power lines came down overnight.  The phone gave an alarm about Willmar Municipal Utilities asking customers to reduce load until 10 pm.  It doesn't look so good.

Andy fell in beside me on his way to farrowing.

The calves were ok it looked like, backs all full of snow.  The main herd, south of the yard, was taking a run down the lane to get to their drinker.  I had no idea if it were open or not and knew very well that I couldn't do anything about it anyway, not if I planned to live to tell the story.  I may well have a cattle drinker to thaw in the morning, or the next day.  Meanwhile, the herd would have to eat snow.

Unlike this morning, that snow was becoming light gray and a bit gritty.  Soil was evidently blowing off somewhere.  I began to get angry, at myself as much as anyone else.  What must we farmers think, that it doesn't matter that some kid in the future will go without food because of the soil we let escape?

I shut the tractor down and came back to the house, brought the dog into her kennel in the garage.  LeeAnn had it all cozy wrapped in sleeping bags and quilts. I  fed and left her there.  We will hope for the best!

Wind

   Winds are up today from yesterday.  Visibility is down.  Cattle are yarding up in places where there is the best protection. The main obstacle with getting them from today through Saturday when the temps are supposed to break will be to keep them eating.  They won't go looking in this weather so it is getting the hay to them.  Digestion is critical for cattle in the cold for the body heat it creates, as well as the nutrition, of course.

The hogs should be alright in their beds, but they get reluctant to get up and get to the feeder in the cold.  The other major question is how many of the drinkers will freeze.  The question over all this is:  "Can the power Co-op keep the lines up and the electricity coming to the farm? 

cold

 Winds are coming up.  Temps are down.  The cloth masks LeeAnn made and distributed for Covid the first year because our rag tag health system couldn't provide them are now coming in handy to keep my old nose from freezing further in than it already has. 

First round today shows field diesel gelled in the barrel.  We didn't get winter fuel in there in time, or the supplier didn't get the soya diesel pulled out in time in the fall. Ditto with the one tractor that has two tanks where the soya tends to sit in the bottom tank bedeviling us all winter.  Skidloader lives in the barn, so that will be alright.

Cattle at their windbreaks are doing fine.  We feed by rolling out on the snow in winter.  May have to use the skidloader today for that.

Even the just weaned calves are doing all right.  Everything is burning through a lot of hay though.

Pigs are pretty comfortable in their deep straw beds even if the hoop sheds are fairly open.  So now to wait it out.  

We just have to avoid doing stupid stuff until Saturday when it begins to back off.  And hope the wind and snow doesn't take the power lines down.

first snow

 The first real snow of the season just happened last week.  Heavy snow on top of soil that is wet in places is becoming common each winter.  The difficulty is that in addition to the fact that major snow events here on the prairie seem not to have much of an endpoint in terms of further snow and blowing and drifting, when snow must be cleared from a earthen surface often as much gravel is cleared as snow especially at first.  This is especially noticeable when the clearing is done by pushing and stacking as we do, but it is also a problem for snow blower operation.  I have replaced more than a few shear pins and once the entire gearbox drive in snow blowing equipment due to this.

European farmers have responded to muddy conditions by getting their working areas much more compact and paving them.  Looks like a good idea.  Won't be cheap.  

On the plus side the 30 acres of Kernza I helped Andy to plant last summer is now covered with a protective blanket of pretty dense snow, ensuring survival.  Hope the wind stays down a little bit so it lasts for awhile.