You have to love the weather in Kansas. On Monday night we
went out at the 10:00 pm ewe check in shirt sleeves. Two days later we woke up
to four inches of snow and single digit wind chill. It is awfully tough on new
lambs and calves, but at least we had a couple of days to prepare for the
worst. Say what you want about the weather but it is never the same here on the
plains and it keeps life interesting.
This morning broke (I say broke because we were long up
before the dawn and I certainly felt broken) cold, windy and most importantly
snowy. Jennifer and I turned on the TV as we got ready to go do chores and saw
the crawl across the screen proclaiming the day a snow day for our school
district. That meant a lazy day of sleeping in and playing in the snow for most
kids. Yes most kids, but not my kids.
Sure we took pity on them and let them go back to bed (it
was 5:30) and sleep for another hour. Actually it was not the kids that we were
taking pity on but the animals. Normally we all go out at 5:30 check and feed
the animals in the barnyard. However, this cold snowy morning Jennifer and I
decided on a quiet, stealthy check of the barn trying not to disturb anything.
The ewes and lambs would be much better off and warmer undisturbed in the fresh
bed of straw we had put out the night before.
Wake up calls were served and plans were made over breakfast
on how to attack the chores. Extra care was needed to make sure that all of the
new lambs were healthy and relatively warm. The decision was made to feed
outside and then shut the ewes back in the barn and that meant water needed to
be moved into the barn. Hay was thrown, feed put out and water was moved. I
guess that is our idea of playing in the snow.
When everything was fed and bedded in the barnyard it was
time to go out and check cows. Remember that bull that wouldn’t stay home last
spring(I am happy to say that he is coming to a McDonalds near you, but that is
another story for another day), it seems those rendezvous moved my calving up
about a month. With three calves already on the ground, thorough morning checks
of the cows are now part of my morning routine.
We plowed through the drifts to get to the pasture and a
quick check revealed a new surprise conceived last April. Fortunately both cow
and heifer calf did not seem fazed by the near arctic conditions. The cow was
an older one and she had picked a good spot out of the wind. With the extra
help the calf was quickly checked, tagged and released back to mama. We made
our way back to the house re-opening the drifts that had filled back in during
our jaunt to the pasture.
We were back into the house at a little after 8:30 am and
the morning’s events were discussed over coffee and hot chocolate. I am sure
that many of my kid’s classmates were still in bed. I am sure of this because
that fact was mentioned a couple of times. The wood stove was stoked and the
process of thawing out, for the first time, was initiated. I say for the first
time because nearly hourly checks will be made of the lambs and ewes during the
day. Each one of these excursions will also necessitate thawing out by the wood
stove.
I am sure my tale of my kid’s snow day is not any different
than any other farm kid in the neighboring two or three counties. Inclement
weather provides many challenges, especially when newborn animals are thrown
into the mix, those challenges require that all hand need to be on deck.
Keeping the chores done and animals care for is definitely a family activity.
Days like this are what makes farming and ranching such a
unique way of life. At an early age farm kids quickly learn that there are no
days off or days when work is cancelled due to inclement weather. They also
realize that family activities and farm work have a way of morphing into each
other. So while other kids may have been snuggled in their warm beds enjoying
their snow day, my kids were bundled in their coats and overalls enjoying their
snow day just as much.
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