On Monday evening we got around 8 inches of snow. It was the biggest snow storm that we have gotten this winter. The farm looks beautiful. While I do enjoy one big snow, now that it has happened I am ready to move on and have spring move in. We are looking at extremely low temperatures the rest of the week, including a low of -8 Thursday night. I’ve said it a million times… I’m not built for cold.
Monday we received word that we have been accepted to the Thursday evening Powhatan Farmers Market. I am loving watching our spring and summer schedule come together. We are in for an amazing year! In the next few weeks our schedule should be finalized and I will post everything on a blog. I’m waiting an “official” confirmation from two markets.
The countdown to kidding season continues:
- Sonia – 2 weeks and 2 days until due date
- Ruth – 3 weeks and 2 days until due date
- Hillary – 5 weeks and 3 days until due date
- Tina – Due in June
Do you have to do anything special to keep the goats warm during these exceptionally cold days/nights?
We have the full barn that can be closed up to retain the heat, but we also deep bed which keeps the barn 5-10 degrees warmer (in our experience). Deep bedding is where you put new straw on top of the old soiled straw each day, giving the animals clean bedding to lay on, while composting the bedding below. The compost creates heat that warms the barn. Even though we are putting new bedding down I still clean up piles of poop that are sitting on top of the straw. The llamas poop in the same spot over and over again and just putting down straw is not enough to keep that area clean… and I like a clean barn.
The llamas have their wool to keep them warm, but the goats also grow a thicker coat during the winter. So that helps too.
Thank you!