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Spring Blizzard

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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All you folks east of me- hang on to your hat- and don't be shedding the long johns yet...This is one of the worst wet snow spring blizzards I've seen in a long time...The type SD usually gets- not us...

Started just after midnight- and hasn't let up....

We had 6" of wet snow/snain/ice pellets/slop -- over a 1/4 inch of moisture... Some areas got near a foot of wet snow... And its still snowing...That with 30 mph winds that at times hit 50 mph... TV weatherman said we could get another 3-6 inches tonight...

We officially are over 100 inches of snow at Glasgow for the winter-- at 6 PM it was 101.9".....

Temp is supposed to drop tonite for next few days to make it all a sheet of ice....

Most roads in NE MT and NW ND are closed or no travel advised...
 
I hate to hear that, I hope you make it through okay. It sounds like you're getting the winter we had last year. It looks more and more like we're going back into a drought this spring :roll: .
 
we had six inches by 10:30 then it warmed up and melted between squalls and north wind. Now the temp is dropping and the north wind is coming stronger sure hope the cows wait for a better day
 
we had about 8 inches of wet sidways snow, on top of a couple feet of hard crusted. the new snow will melt. Had both barns full, set of twins one wearing a hide and got a momma that lost her calf. Clear and stars tonight but going to be cold in thr morning
 
The winter was brutal and now the spring is following suit. Have never calved in such horrid weather, sure am glad we were all done on the 10th.

I hope the weather lets up and your girls hang in until this is over . This sure is not good for moms and babes and ranchers alike :(

Stay safe everyone .
 
This winter I bought one of the Western Ranch's calf warmers-- instead of burning gas and using my old calf warmer- the pickup cab...And its paid for itself several times over... :D
Today luckily I was able to catch the cows before the calf dropped- and get them in the barn before they calved...But its going to be another long night of checking...
This weather sure is tough on the calves already born tho...Even tho I've tried to put out some straw and bed grounds it doesn't take long for them to turn to slop...

This has been one Hellacious of a winter up here- and I'd be happy to not see another like it...
 
Finally saw the sun here today for the first time in about a week. We got about a foot of nice new fluffy snow on top of the two and a half / three feet we already had. Fortunately it has warmed up and the snow is settling, but in the area we take our pairs to they're going to be fairly crowded. I spent about 3 hrs on the cat today pushing snow to give them more room, mad a spot about 100' x 150' :shock:
There is going to be hell to pay in a week or so when this stuff gets serious about leaving.
Hope all you guys down there in blizzard country come through all right. Stay safe out there.
 
Here we had rain 1st then snow around 6 to 8 inches. The cows are holding their tails down right now had one just before dark last night that spent it's 1st night out in the weather. I fed and bedded at daylight and all was well.
 
Started snowing here Monday night around 10pm. Was still snowing at 4am this morning. Hubby said it finally quit after 6am.
Got around 6 inches of snow.
only one old rip that calved in it. Old biddy would not go to the barn yesterday morning.
 
Which hot box did you get OT?
We got the one you have to lift the lid and lift the calf over the side and into it.
I like the newer one with the side that lifts up.
 
I Luv Herfrds said:
Which hot box did you get OT?
We got the one you have to lift the lid and lift the calf over the side and into it.
I like the newer one with the side that lifts up.
Click to expand...

We have 8" of new slop- on top of mud...Some areas north of us have 8 foot drifts...

We got the one the side lifts up... You can just pull the sled into the barn up next to the hot box- flip the calf in- close it up and take off looking for more...
And it got used again today-- Grandma found one at 6AM that was pretty chilled- and spent about 4 hours in there before being reunited with an anxious mom...Luckily shortly after that it quit snowing and the wind went down- because I found 4 more before noon- and a heifer that was calving that I got into the barn- and that had a calf an hour later when we checked her.... Once the snow quit- and the wind went down- those born out on the feedyard did fine- but we bedded the windbreaks down pretty well with straw....
If they will just stay close to the windbreaks to calve- and not head for the biggest snowdrift... :roll:

I talked to the gal at the elevator the other day- and WR is delivering 2 more calf warmers this week.....
 
You could send some of it down to Colorado. We have been dry for to darn long. Wind has been blowing for the last week(fills like it has been for 3 months :x ) Got a 30% chance for this weekend hopefully it will spit out something.
 
It was in the low 70s F most of the day yesterday then when I took the dogs and went on a check about 7:00 PM the sun was out and just a great day. Checked the cattle and started back ( stright north ) to the house and got hit by stright line 50+ MPH winds and wished I had a coat. When I left the house it was still 68F and when I got back about 45 minutes later it was 45F with that constant 50 MPH wind.

Now its +36F and over cast. Forcast is more of the same with highs in the mid 40s for the next week and lows in the upper 20s

Hopefully this is the last gasp of winter for the year.
 
Spring probably comes early for you back in the corn belt George, out here we've got chances of snow for the next month, sometimes month and a half. When I went to school in Brookings SD, on the east edge of the state, I'll always remember the cold winters but when spring came it came on fast. I would drive home in May and see all the trees leafed out back there and when I got out west where we live there wasn't a leaf to be seen. The difference is the elevation and colder nights I'm sure.

Are there any farmers in the fields there yet?
 
Not yet but my son is chomping at the bit.

When it gets right we go gangbusters till the crops ( about 2,300 acres )are planted.

We have been in the shop the last month and feel everything is ready. Finished the sprayer last week.

Put a new head gasket on one of the 4650s, new exhaust manifold and ran the rack on the 9170, new muffler on the old bobcat ( 1975 model 700 ) it seems that noone wants to pay anything for it so we keep the 277 cat at one location and the bobcat at the other - - - saves moving things.

When we deliver seed we can put the 700 on a trailer and pull it with the flatbed and then we can off load a full pallet with out having to handle by hand. Most of the farmers have something to offload with but not all.

I put 8 suitcase weights off the rear of a Massey Fergeson combine on the rear of the bobcat ( looks like they came from the factory ) and the extre 680# makes a huge difference in what we can safely pick up.
 
OT is that Gary delivering up there?

3words at 3am this morning I checked our first group of cows. Nothing going on that I could see. Went to the barn and checked the next group, took around 15 minutes. By the time I got to the first group one old cow had slicked out a calf and it was sliding down the hill and into a snow bank.
Got them into the barn, calf was pretty chilled so she went into the hot box.
 
I Luv Herfrds said:
OT is that Gary delivering up there?

3words at 3am this morning I checked our first group of cows. Nothing going on that I could see. Went to the barn and checked the next group, took around 15 minutes. By the time I got to the first group one old cow had slicked out a calf and it was sliding down the hill and into a snow bank.
Got them into the barn, calf was pretty chilled so she went into the hot box.
Click to expand...

Joe from Billings WR... Yep in these wet storms it doesn't take long for a calf to get chilled.... I'd love to have a barn big enough to house them all in before or even when they calve-- but just don't have it... I had a room set up to warm them with a propane industrial space heater-- but it just doesn't do the job drying them out like a hot box...And I was always worried about fires with that heater....For years I warmed a lot of calves under the pickup heater....

I don't think I or anyone I've talked to can remember a winter/spring like this one...
Now I see they are predicting another wet spring snowstorm coming off the west coast about this weekend- but think this one will miss us- and take its normal course across southern MT, WY, SD, NB and the midwest...

http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/47442/snow-threats-to-continue-beyon-1.asp
 

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