Last year we had some cold nights here at Skyline Pastures and they caused quite a bit of trouble, especially with animal water. We were out in the woods every day breaking water for the ducks and were constantly swapping out waterers for the chickens. We took notes and started this winter thinking we were much better prepared…and we were. Right up until the temperature got below 13 degrees this year. 13 degrees seems to be the magic number where all of our preparations and electric water heaters become ineffective.
Ducks need constant access to a pool of water for the purpose of dunking their beaks and general ducky activities. Typically, we use 2 black concrete mixing trays but this year we decided to use two of the thin blue kiddie pools thinking the deeper water would stay liquid longer and we would be able to break the ice each morning and top off with the hose. We are now back to using the concrete mixing trays. Both of the kiddie pools froze solid and cracked when ice removal was attempted.
The cows have a 100-gallon water through with an electric floating heater that we were sure would be able to handle any temperature mother nature could throw at it. Nope. We needed a sledgehammer to break that ice. There was a small hole where the heater sat, and the rest was a 6-inch-thick slab of solid ice. To make matters worse we ran a length of empty hose about 300 feet from the barn spigot to the cow trough and even though the hose had no ice in it to start, the flowing stream of water froze solid before it could travel the distance to the cows. At least we had the Kubota to haul lots of 5-gallon buckets to top off their water.
Next year the plan is to trench in water line to anywhere we keep animals and have frost proof hydrants to ensure liquid water throughout the coldest months of the year. This infrastructure project should take our farm to the next level and reduce the long winter days of hauling buckets. Here’s to next year!