Speeding up the Melting Process…my Farmer’s Way
If you are a follower of Livin’ the Life, the Farm Life that is on Instagram or Facebook , (if you are not, you need to be!! Click on the buttons and follow me!) you have seen me post a few pictures of us moving to a new feeding area with the cows. We have learned that when it becomes time to start calving, it is very important for us to move the cows to an area different from where they had been fed all winter. Some years this is not a big deal. We just drive to a different spot in the field. However, on big snow years, moving to a new area in the field is not always easy. Not when there is still over 2 feet of snow in the field! This year was one of those years. On years like this year, we have to “work at” speeding up the “melting process”. We decided to try something different this year. First my Farmer broke trail to the area with the tractor, then drove around just to disturb the snow. We have done this in the past and it does help speed up the “melting process”. Here is the picture of him heading out to the new spot.
As you look at the picture, the snow doesn’t look real deep. That’s because the tractor is not sinking clear to the bottom. It is driving on about a foot of snow. Of course, the next day or so we got another 5 inches of snow. Nope, that wasn’t helping with the snow melting process and it did not make my Farmer happy. It looked like the “speeding up the melting process” was going to need something more. My Farmer decided maybe we could spread colored lime on the area like we do with our wheel lines to melt the snow. Spreading lime on our fields is a normal late spring application……on bare ground. Not on top of the snow. My Farmer has always talked about trying to apply it in the winter, one less thing to have to do in the spring, so this was his chance. They hooked the tractor up to the lime spreader and drove out through the deep snow to spread lime. It really did look a little crazy. Here is a picture of the hillside with the lime on it. I wish I had a picture of them spreading it but I did not get one.
After they applied the first application, my son asked if we had any blue lime. He thought it would be cool to have red and blue on the white snow. That would have been cool! They could have made a flag!! But there was no blue so it was all red. Or pink. Depending on were you are looking from.
And of course, a few days after they spread the colored lime, it snowed another 5 inches….again!! These spring snows can be such a let down. I have to kept telling myself what I heard an old timer say….
“The new spring snow melts to old snow”
….a long valley old timer
I don’t know how true it is, but it helps to think of it that way.
Eventually it did finally warm up a bit and the snow did start to melt. Here is a picture showing that the “speeding up the melting process” is working.
As you can see, the hillside that we worked on did melt out faster then the other hillsides. Success!
We are now feeding on the new area, and have up to 50 new babies. That makes us about 1/3 of the way done. On these nice sunny days, the calves are loving laying on that bare south facing hillside soaking up the sun. That is definitely a good thing.
As I said earlier, we learned that having a fresh feeding area during calving time is very important. We have gotten a “bug” on our feedlot in the past, and we lost a lot of calves. From those experiences, we learned that fresh ground and more room is so important. The “bug” does not spread as easily.
As I am writing this, I realize that we can relate what we do with our cows during calving season to what we are doing in our nation now to “flatten the curve” during this COVID-19 pandemic. Cleanliness and social distancing. My Farmer just called it “giving them more room”. Now we call it social distancing. We do have to remind the cows every once in a while. A few totally get it. Some don’t and really don’t care. Yep, same ole, same ole.
Anyways…..time to go feed and think of my next post. That’s when I come up with most of my ideas. While I am stress-fully driving the tractor while my Farmer works his tail off pushing off the islage and hay for the cows. The islage is really heavy and hard to push off, my Farmer tells me, so I have to drive really slow. This is stressful on my part because when you are going .85 mph, a persons mind tends to wonder….a lot. Thinking, daydreaming, driving, and paying attention is sometimes hard to do all at the same time. And don’t forget about taking pictures!! Without my Farmer knowing. That is hard! (wink, wink)
I hope you enjoyed this post. Leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you! Until next time……I will still be here, because it is calving season, Livin’ the Life, the Farm Life that is.
56 Comments
sandra r barckholtz
what an interesting article that shed so much information, especially for us city slickers who are farmhouse decor fanatics. Much respect for all your farmers!
admin
Thank you Sandra. I appreciate you stopping by and reading.
Laura Lee
I don’t think I could ever be a farmer. It’s such hard work all year round and you never get a break. My sincerest thanks to people like you and your husband and your children for keeping the food supply going especially during times like these.
admin
I know I could never be a farmer by myself! It does take a lot of dedication and hard work, which my Farmer has, and me…not so much. I am thankful to be here living the farm life with him. Thanks for stopping by and reading. I really appreciate it.
Hillari
This is such neat information! I also loved your connection from farming to COVID-19 and social distancing. Such important information here – thank you so much!
admin
You are welcome. Thank you Hillari for stopping in and reading. I appreciate it.
Tricia Snow
How interesting. I love that they are coming up with great ideas to help with this.
admin
I agree. Thanks for stopping in and reading.
Kirsten
I love that…equating what you’re doing with your cows to social distancing. Thanks for sharing!
admin
Thank you Kirsten for stopping in and reading. I appreciate it.
Debbie
Your farm life is so interesting! I can’t imagine having that much property to take care of.
admin
It is a lot of work, but it is enjoyable work….most of the time. Thanks for stopping by!
Lisa Manderino
Who knew cows have been social distancing all along!
admin
It is important. To close of quarters and disease spreads fast. Thanks for stopping in.
Eva Keller
Looks like some hard work! It would be pretty cool if they had all different colored lime so you make cool stuff in the snow.
admin
We actually do get different colors. Purple, orange, yellow, green. It’s can be a pretty colorful pile!
Linda Egeler
I loved reading your post, simply because your daily life is so different from mine. I love learning about new experiences!
admin
Thanks for taking the time to read my post Linda. New experiences makes life more enjoyable!
Holly
Wow great tips! Thank you for sharing them!
admin
Your welcome. Thanks for stopping by Holly.
Diane Kurzava
What an interesting story! I love the farming education. Thank you!
admin
Thank you Diane! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Kendra
Thanks for sharing this experience! We just finally melted off our Easter snow today, so I can kind of relate! I’m ready to get on with Springtime!
admin
Thanks for reading! I hope you have springtime soon! We all need it.
Lee Anne
That looks like plenty of snow to me! That would be cool if they had blue lime!
admin
The do have blue and I’m sure we have some, but the guys didn’t want to take the time to dig through all the big bags. LOL Thanks for stopping in!
Suzan | It's My Sustainable Life
Love this! Nothing like the resourcefulness of a homesteader/farmer 🙂
admin
In this life you have to be creative and use all the resources you have available. Thanks for stopping by!
Carrie Cochran
Very inventive!
Santana
We live in Wisconsin and the snow has really been inconvenient here too. Finally got all the snow off of the roof? Snow. Finally melted the last of it off of the yard? Snow. It’s never ending, I swear.
admin
Some days it does feel never ending! One chunk of snow from my roof finally fell off just 2 weeks ago! Thanks for stopping by!
Sandi
Love your post, liming the snow as the flag would have been very cool. Thanks for sharing.
admin
Thank Sandi! Next year I’m gonna try and encourage them to make the flag!
Jen
Since we don’t see much snow down south, I never would’ve thought of the need to get snow melted to move cattle around. So interesting! Thanks for sharing. And I think a little blue would’ve been pretty, too!
admin
Next year I am going to make sure we can get to some blue lime!! That’ll be fun! Thanks for stopping by!
Tiffany
I know I get frustrated when late spring snows keep happening – couldn’t imagine if it interrupted my prep work for working this much land! Keep it up – we need you guys!
admin
Yes, late spring snows can be very frustrating. Thanks for stopping by and reading. I appreciate it.
Maya
Beautiful pictures! Learnt so much about farm life. Thank you, for sharing
Jane
This is a very interesting post. I have never heard of spreading lime can speed up the melting process. I always learn something new.
admin
I believe it works best because it is colored, which maybe warms up more from the sun. Not sure though, that’s my Farmer’s expertise. LOL Thanks for stopping by!
Sara - Seek Discover Learn
I always knew that farming was hard work, but I never thought about needing to hurry up and get the snow melted off the fields. I like how you experimented with the lime. I love experimenting with new things with my kids to see what we can learn. Thanks for sharing.
admin
Hi Sara. I was glad our experiment worked out. Experimenting in a wonderful way to learn. Thanks for stopping in!
Cindy Seibert
I enjoy your posts. Thank you for sharing. I live on 5 acres cows on one side. Alfalfa and wheat on the other so i can pretend that I am a farmer with out the work.😊 I love to watch the big machinery.
admin
Hi Cindy! Thank you for reading my posts. It’s ok to pretend. Enjoy and be thankful that the ground surrounding you is still in ag production. Stay safe and healthy!
Angela
I enjoyed reading and seeing how this is done. I love your ending about less than 1 mph driving and your mind coming up with new ideas. I can so relate – onto the next fun post!
admin
Thanks Angela. Yes, on the the next post. lol
Maria Gustafsson
Thank you for your hard work in keeping us all fed! I can’t imagine how much more difficult the weather makes things.
admin
The weather does make this job very difficult and challenging some days. Thanks for stopping by Maria.
Lisa
Wow, this is so much work. I appreciate all your dedication. Thank you!
admin
Thank you Lisa for stopping by and reading my post.
Cindy
Interesting perspectives that do relate to current times!
admin
Thanks Cindy.
Pauline
I was just discussing this with my neighbor. He always winters the cows in another field. He said he has less of a fatality rate.
admin
Interesting. That is what we found. Thank you for sharing that!! It’s always good to know that we are not alone on things we do! Thanks Pauline!
Ruth Iaela-Pukahi
Wow, this is so interesting for me because I have never really had to deal with snow and real life. Lime melts snow, fascinating! I wonder who figured that out…
admin
Hi Ruth. The snow melting with lime works mostly because it is colored I believe. The sun’s heat absorbs more or something like that. Not really sure. That’s my Farmers department. lol