Well, it depends largely upon the day, the weather, but mostly there are basic chores that need doing every day. How long it takes to do them, depends on the weather, too! There might be snow to move to get at the hay bales and to get through gates. The snow might be blowing making visibility poor, or if its really cold the tractors might need some begging and pleading to start.... No two days are alike!
My day usually begins with a cup of coffee and a fruit and Kefir smoothie (Kefir is a fermented milk drink with lots of probiotics).
I like to wait until sunup to start chores - easier to get around that way.
So I fill a few 4 liter milk jugs with water - one for the hens in the back yard, and about 4 depending on the day, for my needy/sick/elderly goats I keep separate in the barn.
We suit up to go outside, the number of layers depend on the temperature and wind chill expectancy but my pink coveralls and Muck boots make up part of the clothing every day.
First stop is the chicken coop. I give them fresh water (they have a heated bowl that keeps their water from freezing) and top up their layer ration as needed, open their little pop door and throw a handful of grains outside for them. Normally they all burst out the door! Only when its really windy or snowy do they stay indoors.
The hens have a bit of straw to scratch in, they love it and keeps their toes off the snow :)
Next stop the goats and sheep. I drive the 2km accompanied by my 3 dogs - the Jack Russel called Dude, the Malinois called Spice and the Heeler/Collie cross called Reno.
Normally the sheep are outside, but the goats are still in the barn. Remus, the guard dog will run up to greet us. I feed him and use Spice to kick the couch potato goats out the barn. I find that if I let them have access to the barn 24/7 they tend to spend a lot of time lounging around, so kicking them out when the weather is decent (in my opinion, anything warmer than -10 daytime and no wind...) makes them eat more... and distribute their manure out on the land where it belongs, not in the barn where it needs hauling out by bobcat come spring.
Moving them out the barn gives me opportunity to scan for any sick/injured animals. All look fine, so I head off to the other barn where the needy goats are, towing a toboggan with my milk jugs filled with water.
I water them, give grain and hay and treat whatever needs treating. The barn cat gets fed, and we are basically done here for the morning routine. We roll out hay every 4 days for the goats, so if this was a feeding day, I would use Spice to round up the sheep and bring them into the corral. Both dog and sheep are used to the routine and more often than not, the sheep are in the corral before Spice and I are through the gate... much to her disappointment!
Then we would move in 4 big round bales of hay, cut the strings and roll out the hay with the tractor. When the gate is shut, we open the corral and the animals happily run to the fresh hay.
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Rolled out hay. I took this picture in December before we had a lot of snow.
Now on to Larry's farm. Most days in winter he is out trucking for off farm income, so I go down there with the dogs to feed the cows. The cows need feed every 2 days, or every day depending.
So here I start the tractor to let it warm up and use Spice and Reno to move the cows from one pen to the next pen. I put out hay for them with the tractor, cut the strings, and open the gate. The cows come back for feed and I can check them over for any signs of illness. I check the water bowls to make sure they are open, then feed the calves in the next pen. Back in the yard I check the deep freezers to ensure they are working, we have a lot of beef/chicken/turkey frozen at any one time.
My helper Dude on good days, in the tractor
Happy calves on a nice day
Spice the archaeologist showing me her prize.... a dead calf skull and neck from the bury pit.
A not-so-nice day driving to the farm...
Windy and snowy and cold!
cow butts, heads buried in hay I put out
Dude on the not-so-nice days, stays in the truck
Cows sheltering at the windbreaks
By this time its normally lunch time so I head back to my house. After lunch I do things in and around the house - cleaning, laundry, or other projects like accounting and financial planning. The office stuff gets neglected during the busy summer months, so there is a lot of catching up to do, filing papers, planning the new years budget, planning grazing and when to market animals, what the breakeven price is, that sort of thing. Also reading - I might spend some time reading articles on animal health, improving facilities, new vaccines, new fencing products, etc.
Then there are website updates and correspondence to keep up with. If we needed to run into town for supplies, now is the time to do it. Closest groceries: 38km one way. Closest city: 100km one way.
An hour or so before sundown I head out to go and give the sheep and goats a bit of grain - my hay tested slightly low on energy and protein so the animals get a little bit of supplemental grain to maintain their body condition as they are all bred now and due to kid/lamb come May 1. I fill 10x 20liter pails with grain, put it in my truck and use Spice again to move the sheep and goats into the corral, so that I can pour out the grain in troughs in the pasture. Then there is a mad dash as all the animals try to fit through the gate at the same time to get at the treat :)
A snowy evening - can you spot the guardian dog in this picture? I just pulled up for evening chores when I took this picture quick before he moved
There he is!
STREEEETCHHHHH - bear in mind, he picked that spot for himself. He can go into the barn with the sheep and the goats, but he was comfortable on the straw bale stack.
Delays, delays.... snow blew in again to my 2nd barn where the needy critters are.
The top wire of the mesh sticking out above a snow drift. the wire that is just below my knee, should be waist high..... Remus runs over the fences, thank goodness the sheep, goats and horses haven't ventured out yet.....!
I feed the guard dog Remus, check on my needy animals again and treat as needed. If its a nice evening I would take the dogs for a walk.
Remus and Spice playing
A corner where 3 pastures meet... under 4 ft of snow
my well is completely covered now
The snow is deep and I have to stay on top of the hard ridges or risk breaking through to knee deep and in some places hip deep snow. We admire the sunset, listen to coyotes howling in the distance and head back home.
Remus on a windy evening walk
At home I go collect eggs from the coop and lock the hens in for the night to avoid predators turning them into a midnight lunch.
The hens waiting for their evening snack. See their fence covered in snow in the foreground? The hens only venture as far as the compacted path I made, they stay out of the deep snow.
A peaceful evening
