Prologue

Winter weather hit us hard earlier than expected. When you are a farmer, there is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing and being prepared.

Temps in teens

As I was managing the farm solo, since my bride had to leave to spend time with her terminally ill dad, I was notified of the real cold spell we were anticipating in late October and early November. The forecast was for 12-18 F early mornings with breeze which might make it feel like 10F.

I was not anticipating this hence had to quickly poll some of the local farmers to understand how to fare. This round was hard as it was the first time I had to diligently walk over to various water spots in the fields to break ice. We did get snow but not as much as we will in few weeks.

Some snow accumulated

Temps in negative twenties

Few weeks later… the penultimate week in December, with my managing the farm solo, I experienced -10F temps with -30F windchill on one night. There was snow through one day and constant wind for 2 days. It was the toughest week yet, but by the grace of God I was able to come through the other side.

Preparations

• I had started with ensuring our water hydrants at each of the sub areas on our paddock was 36inches below to survive freezing weather. This was complete with 3 specific outlets for the ewes, rams and the alpaca areas, in early October timeframe.
• I started with flushing all water in the exposed pipes in the barn and disconnecting hoses. It was real pain to roll them all and ensure there was no water stuck.
• Then I had big tubs placed with buckets so I can use the hydrants to manually transport and fill the tubs with fresh water for the animals
• Water bubblers to keep the flow going to keep it from deep freeze. I still had to go out and break ice twice a day sometimes. Then it stopped working during the coldest and cloudiest parts (since its solar)
• North and West protection shield using pallets for bracing and straw for keeping it dry and insulated.

Thru the major winter storm of Dec 2022

• Saw the storm clouds roll in and it was ominous and the ambience quickly changed
• Started at 32F on Thursday AM and began dropping, then began snowing lightly, but as the winds picked up so did the snow and we had howling winds well over 25mph at at times gusts of what felt like over 40mph whipping thru -The shelters were swaying, the snow was flying everywhere and temps kept dropping.
• By Thursday evening it was -8 with snow accumulated in parts more than 6inches due to how wind had blown and the winds kept coming.
• The worst of the wind continued thru Friday with temps in -8 again with windchills of -25. There was report of -40 windchill in the rural parts.
• The temps inside the garage on north side fell to below 18 at one point and on south side to 20, although due to heat and flow, temperature in the middle parts stayed above 34.
• The snow stopped late Thursday but the winds on Friday kicked off the snow as it looked like we had another storm.
• Snow was everywhere, inside all the shelters, inside barn (N and W sides), inside bunny cages and on many of the animals. The cold was the most unreal part to me. I have experienced cold when I travelled to Chicago once in 2009, when I got stuck walking between buildings, but that was for less than 3 minutes. The wind then was the worst as was this time as well. Except, I had to be out over an hour at a time outside to help tend the animals.
• I was helpless as you cant do anything as you watch the snow accumulate as the animals do their thing
• One of the guineas tried getting on the roof and was stuck in snow, and has been limping and slowly recovering.
• The donkeys had snow on them and I cleaned them up, apologizing to them and built another cover when my hands almost froze.

• You can prepare the best, but even that can be torn to shreds with the Ozarks winds
• I was thankful for loyal animals inspite of being hurt by cold, to come to me everytime I visited them and lick me or show me love. My meremma guard dogs were Godsent.
• Layered multiple clothing - 2 socks, 5 top layer, 3 bottom layer, cotton/beanie/muffler/hoodie for head. This sort of kept me warm but also impeded my motions, but it was survival mode, so did things slower. I had to keep coming into the garage to warm up as my nose and face would freeze
• Water froze in barn, so needing to keep giving bunnies, alpacas and pups water taking turns, buckets for the larger animals, every few hours
• Being alone through this was the worst and best part, when I realized, I could only rely on the Almighty, so that was an encouragement enough for me to pull through - Even though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I fear no evil as You are with me. I had to rely on the Most High, both for life, but also bodily wisdom during the working time to make sure what He created can be put to good use and the support needed. I was alone with no other human help, so had to call on the Almighty often as I was stuck in the middle of nowhere pads for several minutes at a time due to the freezing cold. I was helpless and discouraged several times, but it lasted but few minutes as there was repreieve, even when the clouds and the day looked bleak. I am thankful also to have good neighbors and friends who would check in on me every day, to make sure I was not stuck in the middle of the field frozen :)

Learnings

• Animals are helpless, although they are created resistant
• Animals need guidance and stewardship
• I need to design for Ozarks, winds everywhere, prepare for snow, rain as well as extreme heat
  • metal roof and sides vs tarps vs wood vs combination to ensure strength is balanced with temp controls
  • east facing with blockage on northeast side, but warmer south/southeast winds cause other damages
  • all tarps needs to be roped down
  • use pallets to shore up and brace the sides
• Prepare with guidance from The Most High through prayer and poll other farmers for advise and sift and apply what I can do in short order or plan for the longer term. When an emergency hits, I revert back to dumb mode, so I need to make sure I have protocols setup for those times.
• Have trust that the One who made the changes possible in my life and blessed me with te farm and livestock will see it completed. The wind will blow where it may, but my path is laid before me.
• True blessings and the learnings through this process comes through the animals that I am supposed to steward, but they instead showed love, loyalty and faithfulness, to give a glimpse of hope at times when there was none.

We have new pups through these two storms and they brings joy and hope through all trials of the day.

Godspeed and onward.