I am really starting to think we won the lottery.  What I mean is I have never seen this much snow here.  After our Christmas blizzard, the weather service announced that it was a record amount of snow fall for the month, since records have been kept.  January is about the same so far.  This coming weekend our lows are to be in the negative twenties with a high of five below.  We have 40 mph winds and a few inches of new snow.

I really haven’t thought that much about it until I was contacted to do a press release, detailing what cattlemen are going through right now.  That is when it kinda hit me.  I am not doing any other activities, than taking care of my cattle.  We were going to have Christmas at the farm.  But with the weather no one was getting in or out.  So my wife , and my parents helped me with the shoveling of feed bunks.  After feeding I check the water tanks to make sure they are not frozen and still working.  At that time, I will take a hard look at the cattle, and make sure every one is sound and healthy.  After that round I warm up, eat lunch and go back out and repeat the process.

After the November snow storm, I was able to get in my pens and get the manure all scraped up into piles.  I do this because I really believe in proper animal husbandry.  Looking back, it was probably the best thing I could have done before this weather pattern we are in right now.  By getting my pens in order the cattle have a better surface to walk on, which helps promote movement through out the pen, and cut down on any foot problems.  My cattle are also clean.  There is no mud on their hair coats.  This ensured there is no additional

stress on the cattle.  I wasn’t able to get the piles out of the pens, but at this time that seems to have been somewhat of an unforeseen advantage.  The piles have made additional wind protection.  I have noticed that the cattle loaf around down wind on the piles so in between storms that is where I spread the bedding.  I really do not like bedding cattle, from the standpoint of additional cost, time, and labor.  In these conditions though I know it is the right thing to do.  The bedding  offers more insulation between the cold ground and the bodies of the cattle.

I have also taken a look at my current rations and made adjustments to ensure I am feeding the cattle a diet that will best ensure they will be prepared to fight off the conditions, and remain healthy.  And let me tell ya, they are eating a lot.  When I figured the pounds of feed per head in terms of percent  of their body weight, I was really astonished.  I didn’t think cattle could eat that much.

This kind of extreme weather, that we are not used to seeing in my part of Nebraska, also offers its challenges as far as machinery, and the physical stress on me.  So I was thinking the other day, if my great grandfather were still alive would this hold a candle to his “up hill

both ways in the snow “ story?  I doubt it.  However the forecasters are telling us the worst storm is yet to come sometime next week.  So I may top him yet.