What You Should Know About Winter On A Farm

 Every year a new batch of potential farmers or just starting out farmers make their way to the groups Chad and I help with or belong to. Every year they ask the same questions, the underlaying theme is obvious, they have no idea what a midwestern winter will look like on a farm.

We didn't. We pridefully went into our first without taking advice that was given. These folks will do the same. You don't know until you live it.

We lived in an urban centre just 60 mile from our farm, lived in the Midwest most of our lives, and yet we were still not prepared. So with winter on the horizon, oh it is still just over that hill even though it was -1 F last night, I give you a few observations.

1) 9 months of the year we are preparing for winter. 5 months of the year ARE winter. We start joking in July that Winter is Coming.....

2) Tires. You need good tires and they wear out more often. Budget for tires, get them rotated, pay attention to them. Good tires.

3) Make sure you have enough feed for the animals in October that will last through April. Make sure you have enough storage and that it is in good storage (the rats won't nest in it, raccoons won't feast, ect). Make sure you know how you are going to make sure that livestock has water when everything freezes. Planning to use hoses? Make sure you have enough length on hand. Plan on hauling buckets filled in the kitchen anyway.

4) Make sure you have actual cold weather farm clothes. Real wool socks. Carharts coat/overalls. Thermal gloves. REAL BOOTS. Then double them for when the first set gets soaked and you still have chores. Make sure every member of your family has this gear. *I shop the thrift store all year round and get about 3 pairs in every size. I get expensive, good quality boots for next to nothing this way. I look for coats like this too.

5) Have a plan for unfreezing pipes. Revise it when it doesn't work. After the first dozen times, you'll get the hang of it. Have a back up plan for drinking and flushing water.

6) Have a backup plan for electricity. Have a whole years worth of good pastured meat in your deep freeze? What will happen when the power goes out in an ice storm? We fill gallon jugs with water and freeze them too, those take the empty space and fill it. In an ice storm you can't just run out for dry ice. A generator is expensive but a good investment, however, it will run the freezer and not much else and you'll have to keep gas on hand to run it.

7) Car safety. Keep extra socks and gloves in the car for each passenger. Get thinsulate jackets for kids in car seats that can't wear bulky coats. Keep a bag of hard candy, a freezer safe mason jar of water, power bars, extra diapers, and beef jerky in the glove box. Make sure your cell phone is fully charged when you go anywhere in the car. Pay attention to gas tank levels and never let it get less than half full. Do NOT underestimate the dangers of blowing snow creating "white out" across the roads. Prairie winds can blow around 2 inches of fluffy snow and make it so you can't see 3 ft in front of you.

8) Wind is not your friend. Get to know all about it, what kind and direction works for and against you.

9) Get a wench. Not that kind, pirate fool, though I suppose that might also help keep warm..... Get the kind on a chain that will help you pull your car or truck out of a ditch when it is too icy to use another truck. You can attach it to a tree or a post and then crank your car up and out. In theory.
*I have since been informed that what I thought was called a "wench" is a "winch" and is actually a "come along"....sorry for the confusion (and the giggles, COME ALONG!).

10) If you heat your home with wood or propane or electricity- make sure you have enough BEFORE winter starts. In the case of wood, make sure you know who to call to get more when you run out. It is not practical to plan on heading out to the woods to cut some more when you run out. Wood has to dry and season and hauling in 4 ft of snow? Yeah, call someone and have it delivered.

11)  First aid. I'll do a post or two about this soon. You'll need to have your kit stocked and not the way that the local grocery store sells them. Just know that what you need on a farm is different than a tube of cream and some bandaids. IF you have livestock, make sure that you have a first aid kit for them too AND a place for them to be if they get injured. We call ours the med shed. It needs to be near the house and a real shelter. If you do not plan for this just know that bloody sheep in your kitchen is really hard to clean up after.

12) I am sure there is more. Sure of it. There will also be problems that happen on the fly that are unique to you and your farm. Like septic lines freezing, dogs getting skunked, broken windows, and the like.

13) Ice. If you have a pond.... TEACH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT ICE. Don't you be foolish about it either.

What would you add to the list? If you would, my friends, share your most horrible winter stories and let us all be wiser.