How do I keep my livestock healthy and not cold stressed?

1. AMPLE CLEAN UNFROZEN WATER available all the times.  Water is essential for digestion which is what keeps animals warm.  If you decrease water intake it then decreases the passage rate of feeds.  Dehydration is an added stress on animals! If there is not a clear path to the water make one!  Animals will conserve energy and not make themselves a path to water.

2. OFFER SHELTER AND AMPLE BEDDING.  For animals that will be outside without a shelter offer windbreaks!  This can be a tree line, inside the woods, or even bales of hay that is lower quality that can be put out in the pasture and used for a windbreak/bedding.  Make sure animals have a dry area to bed down.  This may mean you have to roll out bales of hay or straw to be able to give the animals ample amount of space to access dry bedding. Make sure you are bedding down ALL ANIMALS no matter what stage of production they are.

3. ADAPT FEED AND NUTRITION.  Forage is KEY!  Low-starch feed products if you want to add in more supplementation.  You need to make sure you are maintaining your animals maintenance energy requirements. Your animals will function best with access to as much hay as they want to keep digestion going which helps keep animals warm.

• Make sure those generators are ready!
• Fill up equipment with enough diesel to run for a few days if there is no access to get any fuel.
• Check antifreeze levels.
• Park equipment out of the wind as much as possible
• Leave water sources dripping and water troughs/buckets filled
• Insulate exposed water pipes
• Have on hand colostrum replace and milk replacer for those that are caving, farrowing, kidding, and foaling right now.
• Make sure when using tank heaters or water bucket heaters they are working properly with no frayed cords and still have the grounding plug.

• Stay hydrated with plenty of water and add in electrolyte packets, but only one of those a day!
• NEVER plug a space heater into an extension cord or surge protector.
• unhook water hoses from outdoor faucets and insulate the faucets
• Below freezing temperatures open your cabinets to allow warm air to flow into those areas.
• Keep you skin covered as much as possible!  Wear multiple layers, gloves, and keep your head and ears covered. Frost bite can happen just as fast to us as it can to animals.
• Wear sunglasses, the light reflects off snow just as much as it will water.  protect them!