Facilities Maintenance during cold weather.

As we are coming out of a sub zero week here in Minnesota, I thought we would take a look at some important issues that face the facilities side of running a farm in Minnesota. There are two big focuses during cold weather, your livestock and your water. Today we'll look at the water side of the issues.

If you have horses in pasture or in an unheated barn, it's very important to check water with every feed. Buckets in barns and tanks in pastures will probably have heaters in them by now, but sometimes they go out without us knowing.

Another big issue is freezing pipes in your buildings. We all have frost free spickets by now, and we've wrapped the crap out of them with heat tape. The thing that we forget about is the water lines in our buildings and housing. Often times farms will have staffing quarters of some kind, and the water lines are exposed under the building, trailer, or what have you. When temps drop to sub zero, it's a good idea to have one faucet in any building or quarters running a slight stream. The cold water pipes are often the first to freeze, even when they are insulated. By letting water flow through them, you lower the chance of having your pipes bust, and that's a real mess to deal with in this kind of weather.

Tomorrow we'll look at some important issues that face livestock in this weather.

Stockman's Warning Issued:

We'll start off today by mentioning that a Stockman's warning has been issued for almost every county in MN. Here is a quick link to the criteria for a warning to be issued.

All pastured horses without access to shelter should be brought in this evening, as the wind chill temps will reach below -20 degrees.

The link above also has some tips on keeping an eye on hypothermia and frostbite.

Click here for an hour by hour forecast for the southern metro area.

Welcome to the Ranch!

Here we go! It's a cold January day in Minnesota, we're looking at -30 today with the wind chill. Felt like a good day to start a new blog!

Just the basics:

I have the great fortune to work and live on a Thoroughbred Ranch in Minnesota. We have a crop of some of the top earners in the state of Minnesota, and run about 30 head on our fifty acre facility. We might not be the largest farm in the area, but we sure are a force to be reckoned with. We race horses around the country, and are shooting for that great year in Kentucky!

What I'll be talking about:

There are a lot of great sites and blogs around the net on Thoroughbreds and Racing. I plan on writing about the things that affect us here in Minnesota. From weather and training issues, to facilities maintenance and all that is involved in running a Thoroughbred Farm.

I welcome all comments and input, as I believe there's always something to learn. Part of the reason that I am writing this blog is to learn more about the industry myself. I run the facilities part of the ranch, and am exploring everything I can about all aspects of the industry.

Come back soon!