I think we will all agree that it is COLD! When I was heading to bed last night, I was nervous thinking about what the morning would bring. I was up in the night and though I shouldn’t have, I peaked at the outside temperature. It was -40 and it wouldn’t read the windchill factor as it was past the capability of the weather station. Yikes. I haven’t seen that many times in the past. I wasn’t surprised to find the tap in the barn froze but that only took a few minutes with the heat gun. I walked up to the cows and found them all happy. I moved the feeders into a nice spot with lots of shelter. I walked back and went to check the calf/bull water bowl, and it was froze. I came to the house to warm up for a bit and out I went with a pail of hot water because I could see the element was working and there was a wee bit of water in the bottom of the bowl so I assumed it might just be the float. I covered it and came back to the house for a bit and went out with a bit more hot water. A few of the calves had a drink and I think I solved the problem. I hope when I get out the next time that all is fine. Of course, today was a day that I had to work regular business hours for the Station, and I was trying to pay attention and run back and forth to the water bowl. I also tried out my heated socks this morning because after a busy day feeding all my animals yesterday, I ended up with very cold feet. My complaint is that they are not designed to fit into rubber boots. I wear a winter rubber boot, and the battery rubbed enough to pop it out a few times. I thought it was a good idea to wear them outside my pants but perhaps that wasn’t a good idea. I won’t give up yet, but I am thinking they might be more designed for outdoor winter sports than farming! The heated vest is lovely and works wonderful underneath my barn coat. The truth is, though these tools are impressive I would prefer it to warm up by 20 degrees!
I was on the road last week. Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and Dryden! I attended the Beef Farmers AGM in Thunder Bay and Dryden and enjoyed seeing the producers in those regions. We hosted our AGM here on Thursday night and we didn’t see a huge change in our board, but we are pleased that George Heyens has joined our board, and Jeff Pollard is not our Advisory Councilor with the Beef Farmers of Ontario. I was a bit disappointed with our attendance, especially when the weather cooperates for our meeting for a change. The Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association have developed a survey that they are looking for feedback on. If you are not on my email list and would be interested in answering a few questions, please reach out to me and I will get you a copy.
I have a busy week of office work this week and I really hope that I can get caught up and back on track. My list seems to be getting longer, and I look forward to crossing a few things off.
