Cripes sake! New Year & I'm already behind. Doesn't help that I still think today is Wednesday...
Run me out in the cold rain and snow
With the Weather Eye still cranking out predictions of above normal temps into the New Year, the scurs are thinking about getting out the patio furniture. Are their intentions premature or right on the money? Starting Thursday, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the upper teens. Mostly cloudy Friday with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Partl sunny on Saturday with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Sunday, mostly cloudy with a modest chance of snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the low 20’s. Mostly cloudy on Monday with a moderate chance of snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the mid-teens. Tuesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs in the mid-20’s with lows in the mid-teens. Mostly cloudy on Wednesday with highs in the low 20’s and lows in the mid-single digits, above zero. January 4th we creep above 9 hours of daylight. On the 5th, our daylight increases by just over one minute per day. By January 8th, our sunrise is finally earlier at 7:47 a.m. CST. The normal high for January 8th is 22 and the normal low is 6. The scurs should have enough Christmas goodies stashed away to last until Valentine’s Day, maybe.
In the heat of the battle, we missed discussing the last Full Moon on Dec. 26th. As most are aware, the time between the full moons is a shade over 29 and one-half days. The period between the moons is what typically gives them their names and this Full Moon is no exception. It is known as the Full Cold Moon for good reason. The coldest part of the winter typically falls between the end of December and the end of January. It is sometimes known as the Long Night’s Moon or the Moon before the Yule. The Yule was the Pagan celebration of the winter solstice, which happened of course back for us on December 21st. The Ojibwe knew this as the Small Spirits Moon and the Sioux referred to it as the Moon of Popping trees or the Moon when Deer shed their antlers. At the ranch, The Cold Moon generally gets the nod although the Long Night’s Moon can be apropos should those January lambs appear.
Even though we weren’t blessed with a white Christmas, Mother Nature still gave us a big, sloppy wet kiss. We received abundant precipitation in the form of rain recorded on the 25th and 26th.. Anywhere from 1.3” – 1.5” fell in the vicinity, welcome for use in the upcoming growing season. The ground was thawed so the rain percolated down into the soil with virtually no runoff. It brought some of the tiling operations to a temporary halt, but most were able to conclude their projects once it stopped. We finally got some measurable snow for the New Year that fell overnight on December 30th. Since it only measured about a half inch, it wasn’t truly a white New Year, more of a brownish-gray. A lot of brown grass and tilled soil in the fields poking through the light coating from the last snowfall of 2023.
I’ve had several ask about the water content of snow, particularly after the rain fell at Christmastime. A general rule of thumb on the early snows when temperatures aren’t very cold is about one inch per tenth of an inch of liquid precipitation. In other words, had that rain fallen as snow, it could’ve very easily have been 13” – 15” or more worth. Ick. It varies greatly with the temperature as colder air will hold less moisture; hence the snow will be drier and contain far less water. Frequently when we get into the coldest part of January, the snow may contain .07” or less of liquid equivalent precipitation per inch of snow. Once we start getting closer to spring, the moisture content of the snow tends to go up again. The trend for quite some time has been for more of our precip in March to fall as rain.
Even with a week’s delay, we managed to finish barn cleaning on the 22nd. Big deal you say. Ya, it is a big deal considering I do it by myself and I’m retirement age. It’s not just tossing some loose bedding in a dinky little spreader and heading to the field with a couple loads. Sheep manure pack inside buildings comes out in heavy, densely packed hunks. It means working in tight quarters and involves moving a lot of gates, panels, and feeders to get the job done. Pitching with a four-tine fork as I grew up doing, it was easy to snap pitchfork handles if you weren’t careful. A five-tine fork, while prized for pitching looser material, was useless on our sheep manure pack as it usually wouldn’t penetrate sufficiently. Using a skidsteer with forks as we do now, it can tear the pack loose in pieces weighing hundreds of pounds. It’s heavy enough to tip the skidsteer on its nose if you’re in a hurry. Plopping those big hunks in the spreader can shear pins in a heartbeat, especially if they’re partially frozen. Our spreader handles it fairly well and I’ve never sheared a pin on it. I’m always nervous though whenever those hunks land in the bottom with a loud thud. After surviving 21 heaping loads on pins and needles, any geezer would be glad to be done with it for another year.
Someone asked if feeding pumpkins and squash is an effective method of worming small ruminants. Good question as it has been rumored for years. Anecdotal evidence exists but unfortunately not many replicated scientific studies. The plants contain a compound called cucurbitacin. Interestingly enough, this is the same chemical that was used a few decades ago as part of an attractant combined with Bt to control rootworm beetles in corn, unsuccessfully I might add. When feeding the pumpkins and squash, it’s difficult to get the concentration of the cucurbitacin high enough to effectively control internal parasites in sheep and goats. At best, it might help thin the herd somewhat on the internal parasite population. It certainly won’t hurt anything, in addition to supplying large amounts of vitamin A in the pumpkin and squash flesh and a large number of minerals and vitamins in the seeds. And besides, they enjoy eating them!
Poppy made it through her second Christmas with flying colors. She left the tree ornaments, plants, and other decorations alone and was generally good around company once she settled down. The highlight of her holiday season though was probably the snow that appeared on Sunday for the New Year. She was off and running her short-legged Corgi zoomies, leaving a rooster tail of in celebration. The squirrels were kept well exercised throughout the holidays. Pretty sure they’ll be breathing a sigh of relief once we get back to our regularly scheduled programming.
See you next week…real good then.
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Topic: Fencelines (Read 242020 times)
