Amity Highland Ranch

Well-meaning friends may express hope that we are enjoying the "nice" weather, meaning it's not horribly cold nor really snowy.  They don't understand that the alternative to deep cold in a winter like this one is mud.  Since it rained for almost 12 straight weeks last fall, and since there's not been enough frost to firm up the ground, every step in the pastures whether ours or the cows' creates a flow of mud.  We are watching the remaining grasses trying to hold on, awaiting some cold to help their little roots survive.  Driving across the corner field where we are feeding our clean hay creates tracks that ooze and squish from day to day under the tires.  It's just too wet and not cold enough.

Is there a solution to this problem?  A friend who constructed a large concrete pad to feed her cows on is facing a similar dilemma.  She may have a solid surface on which to feed hay, however the cows still have to travel to it from elsewhere on the farm and are still creating lots of manure which now has to be moved elsewhere.  So, not a complete solution. 

If the warmth persists, we'll have cows calving in the mud, too.  It is so much preferable to have a cow drop her calf into nice clean snow than onto a pile of mud!   Most of our cows can be coaxed into the barn and confined for freshening (giving birth) but we don't always catch them in the act.  Instead, we find wet, shivering babies who now must make their way to the udder with their brand new, wobbly legs on a squishy, shifting, unreliable surface instead of on firm ground.  The challenge is magnified tenfold.