Well, our first snow was quite an event this year–10 to 12 inches! Something we only get every couple years around here. Last year we hardly got any snow at all.

Snow means fun for the kids, time off from school, and more chores. {smile}

We spend more time checking on everyone and making sure everyone has the calories they need to stay warm. We also throw down extra straw in the barns to keep everyone off the cold ground and out of the eventual mud that always follows the snow here.

Water buckets and hoses freeze up and we need to haul water in 5-gallon buckets. It’s just for a few days, but it always adds a little excitement to the whole adventure.

This time of year the animals are used to getting fed “the good stuff” twice a day, so anytime we walk out the door you can hear everyone start bellowing for food. They sound like they’re starving, but actually, they’re just greedy. They also get much more friendly as they’re pushing and shoving for the grain bucket. Especially the older, experienced ewes–they go from being super-flighty and hard to catch over the summer, to so tame you have to beat them off with a stick in the winter. And I’m barely kidding when I say that–remember that morning they almost took me out for good? It gives a whole new meaning to jokes about don’t get between a pregnant woman and the food!

This year we’ve also got two bull calves headed to the processor for our own freezer. So we had to separate them from the rest of our little family herd, pen them up, and then load them in the trailer and drive to the meat market. Moving and sorting cows is NOT my favorite job, for sure. Our little herd is very bonded and they get up in arms (legs?) when they get separated from each other. Bellowing, kicking, crashing into gates, going through fences…especially with the younger animals that haven’t been moved back and forth through the fields as much. Molly, Annabelle, and our old bull Chester are familiar with the concept of fence lines, gates, and moving up and down the alley to a new field. The youngsters always want to take the shortest line between A and B. But this time it really went pretty smooth!

We got the fellas penned by the trailer and everyone else back to their home field within about an hour. 

Some of the keys we try to focus on when working the animals like this are calm-quiet-slow. The “slow” part can be particularly difficult because sometimes you have to move fast to shut a gate or something and the abrupt clang or crash can freak everyone out in a high-stress situation. But we try to keep everyone calm and minimize the stress as much as possible.

The worst part for the calves is when the adults head back to the field without them. So we let the older cows eat right outside the calves pen for a little while to calm everyone down again before sending them back to their home pasture. The sheep, of course, are just milling around in the way trying to get into the extra food we use to grease the skids of the move.

Next morning you have to get them from the pen into the trailer…

I can’t even explain what happen this year…Actually, yes I can. We backed the trailer up, opened the door, and they both walked in.

Never. Happened. Before.

After we latched and triple-checked all the doors we both look at each other and shrugged. First time for everything, I suppose. They also unloaded beautifully at the processor, which made me feel a little guilty. This farming/homesteading thing is not for the faint of heart. There are parts of it that are really fun. Really beautiful. Really amazing. And parts of it that are just the grim business you have to do. At least you rest easy at night knowing that you took your job seriously and did the best work you knew how to do.

If you follow us on Facebook, you might have seen some of our recent snowy adventures…I’ll be posting about the dogs and Red’s first snow event soon too (hint: She loved it, after I got her out the door!). And if you’re interested in how to handle livestock, I would recommend Temple Grandin’s books. We have Humane Livestock Handling on our shelf, and her new Guide to Working with Farm Animals looks even better for the small farmer.

Here’s a picture of our Cowboy moving sheep from field to field by himself back in 2013–I couldn’t resist sharing because–wow!–I miss the grass!

How are things around your homeplace so far this winter? I’m expecting us to get some more snow this year. That’s usually how it goes. Nothing for a few years, then several big snows in one winter. We’ll see!