You know when the weather gets so cold and all you want to do is curl up inside by a warm fire? It’s great. Well, until your mind starts going about all the farm animals who need attention. That doesn’t stop ever.
This morning I was up early and went for a short walk. It was still dark, as you can see from the picture, so it wasn't far. It's a nice way to start the day but this morning I was thinking about the weather change that's coming and everything that needs to get done so we are prepared. Odds are good that nothing major will happen but if we're not ready, then IF something goes sideways, it'll be worse than it needs to be.
So what do we do to get prepared for a cold snap? Here is my checklist for preparing for short term bad weather.
Animals
Did you notice that I put the animals first? They rely on us so they are first.
We make sure our animals have clean, dry bedding in their barns, coops, and cages. The water troughs, buckets, and bowls are full of clean, fresh water. Every animal has the food it needs. For our chickens and rabbits I like to give them enough food for a couple of days. We still check on them daily, usually multiple times, but in the back of my mind, the pressure is off.
Us
For Troy and I, we fill up a few water jugs in case the water freezes. That’s for us for washing, brushing our teeth and for the indoor animals. I make sure the laundry taps are drained and turned off because our washing machine is in an uninsulated addition.
We bring in logs for the woodstove. Lots of logs!
Outside
The forecast is for more snow here today and tomorrow so Troy was up on the roof the other day shovelling off the snow we already had. It can get very heavy and hard on the structure.
Troy likes to make sure our equipment is covered so the tarps go over the tractor, the opening to the wood shed and around the chicken pen and the rabbitry.