Anyway, all barn animals are on lockdown in the barn. No one is going outside. It's waaaay too cold.
The chickens have their huge run right now and the goats and our milk cow are together. Last month, we passed the calf on to a new family. I don't think I mentioned that here. We loved Oliver and he was a good calf, but I never set out to have a herd. Having less 5 gallon buckets of water to bring out, less manure to scoop, one less mouth to feed was a good choice for us. Oliver is still ours though, we're sharing him with the new family. Come butcher time, we'll split him. This will be interesting for me, as I have only bought beef for our table once in the last 12 years we've been together and it was a birthday meal for my husband. My husband is super excited to have beef. As for me? Well, I don't know what I think about all that.
Back to those frigid temps. Call me crazy, I don't care. I have been treating them with warmness for treats. Molasses water, warm oats.
Most animals seemed okay, except for our goat Katy. She's always been the shy/nervous goat. She's spent a lot of time quivering or shivering in this cold. Not sure if she's nervous or if she's freezing, but I decided to do a little something about it. I upcycled a wool sweater and upcycled the elastic ties from my husband's old (broken) coat. I made a mini turnout blanket. A coat. For a goat.
And the third one to the trifecta is Ophelia. Ophelia is unphased by the weather.
It's so fun going out there to hang with them. In fact, we spent a good chunk of our days out here, regardless of the weather. Here's Ophelia and Katy and her new coat again.
