Boy are we LUCKY!

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

We live South of Syracuse. North of Syracuse they got 5 FEET in 36 hours - after already getting a couple of feet at one time a few days ago! Plus predicting another couple of FEET in next few days. :shock:
Man oh Man am I glad we didn't get hit with that.
We had 38" within 12 hours one year. That was a nightmare. Can't imagine how they are handling this.
Part of this is due to our WARM weather for so long into the winter. We've had only about 3 weeks of winter so far. The war weather has kept the Great Lakes warmer than normal, so they are getting tremendous Lake Affect snows.
We also get lake affect, but usually just off the Finger Lakes, so it is less.

 

[Howdyjabo]

I grew up in East Syracuse-- at times I miss the snow(In NC now),
Don't think I'd be missing that though

 

[*Cowgirl*]

I can't even imagine 5 ft of snow. The most I've ever seen is ~6 inches. Sounds cold. Brrr.

 

[Joy in Texas]

I don't see how ya'll live in the snow like that. It can be in 30's here and I'm freezing.
On the news the other day . Somewhere way up north where it was in the minuses. A reporter thru a boiling pan of water in the air. It turned to ice in a blink of an eye. Coolest thing I've seen awhile.

 

[Saltydawg]

I have some t-posts along fencelines that are barely poking up out of the snow hehe.

 

[Susie David]

Glad it's not us...we're having a warm rain up from the south...everything is melting and it is OK by me. Just have to muck out the pens this afternoon. Calves are in six inches of mud within the last two days...thank goodness for the hills.
DMc

 

[Dave]

We are having 50 degree days and what little rain we have been having is shifting from cold rain to warm rain. But there sure is lots of snow in the mountains. When I drove over White Pass last week there was 7 or 8 feet up there.

 

[john250]

Perfect winter weather here in balmy Se IN.
20 F in the day. 5 F at night.
All the ruts I made feeding when it was raining everyday are now frozen solid. Slow going. Cows are eating less hay now than they were at 40 F and raining.

 

[TxCoUnTrYbOy]

Weve had perfect winter weather the last week or so here. In the mid 60s during the day and upper 40s at night. Most snow Ive ever seen is about 1 inch.

I have a question, when there is that much snow where the fences are buried, how do you keep the cattle in? Im guessing they dont move around much except to the hay, so they dont wander off.

 

[IluvABbeef]

Weve had perfect winter weather the last week or so here. In the mid 60s during the day and upper 40s at night. Most snow Ive ever seen is about 1 inch.

I have a question, when there is that much snow where the fences are buried, how do you keep the cattle in? Im guessing they dont move around much except to the hay, so they dont wander off.

From what I know, you guessed right, the cattle are pretty much "fenced" in with that much snow, because no animal would want to travel through snow that comes up or past their belly. Unless there's a really good reason to do so. OR unless there's a tractortrack that they can follow to go wherever it takes them.

It's cold here, about a high of -16C this afternoon...not cold enough though, COLD for me is when my boogers freeze...

 

[Saltydawg]

Yea the cattle don't go anywhere in the winter, they know where the food is.

The snow stays packed down good in the areas they frequent so it's easy to walk on.

I feed them twice a day and they either mill around the barn or duck down in the valley if the wind is bad. They have their regular paths and they dont stray far once the snow gets deep.

 

[msscamp]

I have a question, when there is that much snow where the fences are buried, how do you keep the cattle in? Im guessing they dont move around much except to the hay, so they dont wander off.

It mostly depends on the weather - a driving wind combined with snow will cause a lot of cattle to drift with the wind and snow. Several years back, Cheyenne got hit with a blizzard that buried the fences, and the cattle drifted with the wind, walked over the fences onto the interstate, and there were a lot of dead cattle scattered about - I forget how many. We always shut the cows in the corral during a blizzard or heavy snow storm with wind to keep them from drifting with the wind and going through the electric fences. On the ranch it wasn't as big a deal, since most blizzards come in from the north and they were closer to the house - if they went over the buried fences, they were still on our property and it was just a case of moving them back where they belonged after the storm passed.

 

[Wick]

We had about 6-8 inches snow yesterday around here. Temps around 0 f. at night to 20's f. during the day with a constant wind. It makes the face feel like someone cutting you with a razor. I seen snow up to 4 ft. several years back. Snow is better than ice any day. Well except a hot summer day putting square bales in the barn

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Saltydawg - I was wondering how you were doing.
Just talked to some cattle friends in Mexico, NY (they got the 6' of snow) Said cattle just stay in their paths from barn to hay. They don't have very many, so they can let them in the barn. Fences are totally buried. Haven't had mail for 5 days, but haven't lost electricity.
They were thankful they didn't get the 2' weather man predicted - only got about 6".
Still blowing about 35 mh - wicked cold in the wind, but it's actually warmer - about 15 F. That's a relief from what it's been. But that wind - brrerrrr. Hate the wind - along with MUD & TWINS!!!

 

[Saltydawg]

Heres a picture I snapped from the road of one of my fields.

That brush in the foreground is actually about 5ft tall to give you an idea of the depth of snow.
If you look really close out in the center of that field you can see the top of a natural gas line tap sticking up. That tap is actually 48" above the ground.

We usually get a lot of snow though so we havent been having too many problems. (4ft+ in a short period of time is unusual but we get 2ft+ snowfall multiple times every year)

Snowplows been keeping up with the roads pretty good (drivers getting lots of overtime hehe).
Front end loader and plow truck keeps what I need cleared and I have the snowmobile for when I need to get someplace that isnt plowed.

I'll try and get some more pictures but the snow depth is misleading cause it's been really cold and windy so it drifts over.
Everything looks really flat and it doesnt look that deep till you get off the beaten path and sink to your waist :lol: .

 

[Saltydawg]

Couple more pics.

The dogs want to chase squirrels but they know better than to leave the road, the snow is deeper than it looks. This road is normally 3ft higher than the surrounding ground.

This picture doesn't show depth very well but this is the valley the cows like to duck down into for wind protection and it's one of their favorite places to sneak off for calving.
It's actually about a 15-20ft drop but because of the snow and drifting it's hard to judge.