The Slowcook at Spydog Farm The Slowcook at Spydog Farm

Another Foot of Snow?

February 9th, 2015 · No Comments · Posted in farming

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We had our 850-foot-long driveway plowed yesterday for the third time this season and we’ll probably be having it done again this afternoon to deal with the snow system that’s been parked over us since Saturday. Forecasters are calling for a foot of snow or more from this particular storm–a few inches each day–which starts to add up to the point where we can’t even get the four-wheel-drive pickup to the main road.

I also use the truck to move hay from the main stack near the house to the livestock in their various winter quarters. If I can’t use the truck, the tractor is standing by. But in this weather, there’s no guarantee the diesel tractor will start. Diesel engines don’t like extreme cold. The only option is to install an electric heater that keeps the engine warm. We had a bit of a scare the other day when both the tractor and the pickup refused to cooperate. Turned out the battery in the truck was on its last legs, which meant hiking down the hill and digging out our station wagon, which lives at the bottom of the driveway for the time being because it doesn’t have snow tires or four-wheel-drive.

Sound complicated?

Otherwise, the work on the farm is done on foot. I’m usually in and out of the house several times during the day, making sure the animals are all fed and watered at the crack of dawn, then every hour and a half I check for eggs in the two chicken coops, one just down the hill from the house, the other about 150 yards away in the orchard. The eggs will freeze otherwise–or the chickens will start eating them. As the snow builds, my tracks become deeper and deeper, turning into well defined paths such as the one you see in the photo above, looking from the orchard back to the house.

If I can’t use the vehicles, I have to drag bales of hay out to the main paddock for the sheep and Jersey cow. That’s definitely something to be avoided, so I stash bales of hay in the pen inside the walk-in shelter if I see a serious bout of snow in the forecast.

If I had an aerial view of the farm, you could see my tracks etched in the landscape, marking exactly where my chores take me. I’m starting to appreciate how farm designs evolved to place humans and livestock in much closer proximity to eliminate all this walking, or trudging, as the case may be. But that would mean confining the animals to barns and stalls. I think they’re much happier living outdoors with room to roam and fresh air–even freezing air–to breath.

Don’t you?

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