Surviving the Cold

I am so grateful school was cancelled for Tuesday and Wednesday because Tuesday morning, when I went out to check everyone, Lily was already shivering.  I moved all five goats that were in that shelter into the garage with Tony.

Lily

They were very happy to be inside where it was warmer.  Although, it about killed both me and Harley to drag her across the barnyard.

Harley and Cupid (Tony in the back)

Dolly was being a brat to both Cupid and Harley, so I threw her in the room next door in the buck room with Xerxes, Zinnia, and Cookie.  She was a brat in there too, so I finally put her back where she was and told Lily to make her daughter be good.  It does seem that she’s finally settled down a bit.

Dolly and Xerxes

Aurora is handling the cold well.  Although, she’s ready for better weather.  We all are.

Aurora

Of course, Tony might not get any of the extra llama feed with his new roommates.  I will try to stand there and let him eat while the goats are eating their food, but holy goats, it’s cold.

Pistol and Antigone

As of preparing this post, the birds were all doing okay.  I have the door shut, and they really enjoyed the new cornstalk bale.

The three kids in the Love Shack are enjoying their heat lamp.  I wish I was set up to be able to provide heat to everyone.  Anubis and Hera quit all their running around like hormone crazed teens (Oh yeah, they were hormone crazed teens).  They did manage to dump their water bucket while they were running around though.

Hera (back), Anubis and Pluto

Luckily, the new heater in the well house is still working because my hydrant was not frozen!  Yay!  Of course, it was frozen by Wednesday morning.  The well house is warm, but I’m guessing the pipes were so cold that the water froze before it drained back down when I shut it off.  I’ll be carrying water from the milk room for the goats in the Love Shack and greenhouse.

The cattle tank is still thawed (and I assume the water is still running to it), but it’s almost frosted over.  The ice floe down the side is from our strong south wind the other day.

I’m not surprised that the hydrant froze because this morning did start cold, but so far everyone is doing okay. (I missed the picture at -26* F (-32.22 *C) when I let the dog out).

-24*F (-31.11* C) at 7 am Wednesday

Betty Lou was shivering, but that’s normal with this weather.  She is my second oldest goat, and the oldest one not in the garage.

Betty Lou at -16*F (-26.67*C)

I’ll keep checking everyone because we’re supposed to be back down to -24*F (-31.11* C) tonight.  By the weekend, we’re supposed to be back up to 40*F (4.44*C) with rain.  It’s crazy.