Winterizing?

[dianneS]

Winter is just around the corner. Just wondering what changes everyone makes to manage with cold, snow and ice?

How to you prevent freezing water, keep hoses from freezing and how do you keep your de-icer cords out of the way and safe?

I have to make changes to my current system and I'm just hoping for some new tips or tricks!

 

[freemotion]

The hoses get drained and brought in for the winter here, except the ones that go all the way across the pasture and to the pig pen...those just stay in the grass. No more easy bucket filling....but they all drink less in the winter, mostly, and some have gone to freezer camp anyways. I use insulated pails and fill them with warm water.

Other preps include picking up all fallen branches, climbing toys, stray feed tubs, etc that will be in the path of the snowblower. We like to make a few paths in the paddock around the barn so the goats and chickens can get some exercise and get away from each other when the snow gets deep.

The communal stall and coop gets filled with fallen leaves up to about three feet deep. These become part of the deep pack that develops over the winter and creates some heat, and keeps the goats off the frozen ground. Very important here when the temps go below zero. It is a pain to clean in the spring, but that is just one hard day and it is a long, cold winter.

I don't use de-icer cords or immersion heaters. I personally know of two fires that resulted from these devices, and the insulated pails work great.

When I had a horse, I made a super-insulate pail with a muck bucket and a five gallon pail, plywood, packing peanuts, and Great Stuff spray foam insulation. That pail never got more than a skin of ice even in the coldest nights. Never more ice than my mare could easily break with her muzzle if needed. Now that I don't have any pygmies, I'm bringing that one back for this coming winter for my dairy goats. It is also handy in the summer as a drink cooler at a cookout! Keeps ice frozen all day without even using a lid in the hottest weather.

 

[mydakota]

All of my water tanks have a frost free hydrant close by. I roll up and put away all long hoses and replace them with 10 or 12 footers that are easy to drain after each use and hang on the fencepost so they drip out. At least one tank in each enclosure has a tank heater so that there is always water available. These keep the water at least 40 degrees, even when the outside temps are below zero. I find my animals drink a lot better if they have the warmer/heated water. I have a colic prone mare and keeping her water intake up is important.

This year I am putting in a buck pen (for the buck that I don't have yet ) and there is no frost free spigot out there, so we will see how that goes. No power either. I am planning on making an insulated tank enclosure from some plans I saw in an issue of M.E.N. about a year ago. I sure hope it works well. I am expecting it to, since it is kind of the same principle as my cold frame and I grew salad in that all through the winter last year despite 2 longer bouts of below zero weather.

 

[secuono]

The hoses get drained and brought in for the winter here, except the ones that go all the way across the pasture and to the pig pen...those just stay in the grass. No more easy bucket filling....but they all drink less in the winter, mostly, and some have gone to freezer camp anyways. I use insulated pails and fill them with warm water.

Other preps include picking up all fallen branches, climbing toys, stray feed tubs, etc that will be in the path of the snowblower. We like to make a few paths in the paddock around the barn so the goats and chickens can get some exercise and get away from each other when the snow gets deep.

The communal stall and coop gets filled with fallen leaves up to about three feet deep. These become part of the deep pack that develops over the winter and creates some heat, and keeps the goats off the frozen ground. Very important here when the temps go below zero. It is a pain to clean in the spring, but that is just one hard day and it is a long, cold winter.

I don't use de-icer cords or immersion heaters. I personally know of two fires that resulted from these devices, and the insulated pails work great.

When I had a horse, I made a super-insulate pail with a muck bucket and a five gallon pail, plywood, packing peanuts, and Great Stuff spray foam insulation. That pail never got more than a skin of ice even in the coldest nights. Never more ice than my mare could easily break with her muzzle if needed. Now that I don't have any pygmies, I'm bringing that one back for this coming winter for my dairy goats. It is also handy in the summer as a drink cooler at a cookout! Keeps ice frozen all day without even using a lid in the hottest weather.

Can you show us how you made this bucket?