Today I 'fluffed' the hay again.  These are a few of the 12 smaller steers.  It's fun to be in the feeder when they are all around it and distracted by the fresh hay.  I managed to scratch a few heads.  My favorite, the smallest - ear tag #1, usually won't let me touch him.  Today, he was laying in the sun in a soft pile of old hay, chewing cud, and didn't even mind when I was scratching his head & neck.

So cute!

Winter Farm Days are a bit boring & repetitive and can be very cold!

 

Every other day, I lay out & hook up 200 feet of hose to fill the stock tank for the 5 larger steers. After filling the tank, I have to drain all the hoses so they won't freeze up.  Give them a bit of corn mix & fluff their hay. Fluffing is our word for pitchforking out the center of the round bale feeder so the steers can get to all the hay better and finish it all off before we give them another round bale.  When it's cold enough, I need to use the sledge hammer to break their water for them. 

 

The group of 12 smaller steers usually need their water filled every day.  Their tank is closer to the house & has a heater in it, so I never have to break ice on their water. 

 

The chicken's water usually freezes so I bring that waterer into the house to melt it and refill.  The chickens do not like to go out in the snow, so I toss some scratch into their coop & also kitchen scraps, if I have any.  Collect eggs & fill their feeder.

 

That's about it.  I assist Dan when he puts out a big round bale of hay for each group.  We set the bales on pallets so the hay doesn't sink into the mud or freeze onto the ground. 

 

That's about it.  Nothing to exciting in the winter.  No excitement is good.  Last year, we had a couple of jumpers.  They kept ending up in our neighbor's field.  That kind of excitement, I can live without!