Monday, December 15, 2008

Ice, ice, ice!!!

We are having below freezing weather right now. It started Sunday night and will continue until Wednesday afternoon. 60 hours of frozen water tanks. I have never boarded at a place with no electricity, much less pasture board 24/7, so this is all new to me. I went out three times today to break up ice. Each time it was at least an inch thick. It is a frustrating situation because it only took about 15-30 minutes for the ice to start reforming, and Boomer wasn't drinking. I filled a small bucket and left it in his shed, hoping the slightly warmer temp would keep it from freezing solid. I was rewarded on my third trip, The bucket was half empty and the thin layer of ice was broken in! He was drinking!

John and I have been talking about all kinds of ways to thaw ice without electricity. I don't want to go into it here, but we have talked about propane heaters (not safe), solar heaters (require a well to be dug), sun tanks (easily built, but will it work?), solar pond aerators (would it just freeze? what about at night?), putting apples in the bucket to keep the surface area from freezing (not a very long term solution). I don't know what else to do, other than break up ice three times a day and hope the horse drinks when he can! I don't want a dehydrated and colicing horse!!! So, if anyone has any grand ideas- let us know!!! So far, my best idea involves surrounding a big tub with straw bales for insulation. A little expensive, and may not work...

On another note, we got a round bale yesterday! It was fun! I backed the truck up and the farmer loaded it into my truck bed with a huge tractor! It weighed the bed down a lot! We removed the tail gate and rolled the bale into Boomer's shed. He was quite happy with it! I think it will last about 6-8 weeks and it only cost $25!!!

More later, I am too exhausted to blog...

5 comments:

Kim said...

WOW! a round bale for $25??? WOW!!!
how much do round bales weigh in your neck of the woods? as for warm water for the critters.. our barn for our horse, he can go in and out as he pleases, and there is electricity in it, so I bought a water bucket deicer, plugged in in and put it in the water and within 20 minutes all the ice and snow and forming ice was gone! it heats the water to 40 degrees. I AM SO HAPPY WITH THAT! I don't know what I'd do without it! any other option would be too much time/work, etc. And breaking ice is no fun! especially 3 TIMES A DAY! seriously no fun! Past years we've hauled out buckets of steaming hot water when we had goats on our half acre property, but now all the critters live on the couple acres with the horse and water heater, so no more worries for me! Anyways, I cant wait to see your your round bales weigh.

Kim said...

How much did that round bale weigh?
How much do round bales weigh in your neck of the woods?

Heather said...

My guess would be between 600 and 800 pounds. It weighed the truck bed down quite a bit, but John and I were able to roll it out of the bed ourselves. I'm not sure how much it weighs though. I'll be sure to post when It is finally used up, it will be interesting to see how long it lasts!

Kim said...

I wonder what our round bales weigh.. I saw a craigslist post, and I believe they were 75$ each, and they'd haul to the Seattle area with like.. a 16 minimum.. so that'd definitely make it worth while to haul all those miles and hours...

So I'm totally jealous you got a round bale for $25!! our 100 or 120 lbs.. or something bales.. are $16 each. What I'd do for a round bale of 600-800 lbs for $25... I'd threaten to move to your location, that's for sure! I would be surprised if your round bales don't weigh 1000 lbs. So I look forward to hearing what it weighs once you've used it up. Might last a couple months though!

Heather said...

Yeah, That seems like a lot of hay to be buying in bulk! I just saw a farm off the highway on the way to the barn and they had a for sale sign in front of their round bales. They used a tractor to load it up and we just took the tailgate off and rolled it out when we got to Boomer's shed. I would say that he is a little under half way done with it and it has been exactly two weeks... I will try to remember to post how long it takes to finish it and we can figure out how much it must have weighed! I could probably ask the farmer I bought it from next time I buy one too! We were buying small bales for $8 for a 50 pound bale, which lasted about 3 days.