Bad Weather

bethh

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I thought I’d ask how y’all prepare for terrible weather with your animals. We have lgds, goats and chickens. Everyone has shelter but they are outside. We are under tornado watches through the night.
 

Beekissed

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For tornadoes there's simply no prep that can suffice, so I don't even waste time worrying on those....I give them all over to God and rest easy. Then I check after the storm and thank Him for their safety and for preserving them through the storm.

For rough weather~high winds, etc., all anyone can do is have everything battened down as much as possible when it comes to structures. I've positioned my hoop coop at the base of a slope, which shelters it from behind and crosswise to the prevailing winds, which allows the winds to slip right over the curved design of the hoops. We are high on a ridge with some pretty high winds at times, but the tarps on the hoop coop never budge an inch...I think that curved design coupled with the winds flowing over the top rather than hitting the front of the structure really helps.

This will be the first time I have animals out on pasture 100% and with no shelter they can reach but trees/wooded areas, so I'm counting on them bedding down there in bad weather of all kinds~pretty much the same shelter the wild animals have, which seems to work well for them.

We had the most severe storm the other night that we've had since having the sheep out there without a barn to get into...it was actually their first night away from solid structures~severe thunderstorms with lightning striking continually and very near, high winds, hail, trees uprooted within 50 yds of the paddock, torrential rains, etc. I went to check on the sheep after the worst of it, as we have week old lambs on the ground and expecting more at any time....the sheep greeted me as if nothing was going on, shaking like a dog to rid themselves of the excess rain and wanting any food I may have in my pockets. I had to chuckle about their nonchalant attitude about the violent storm that had awakened us and kept us awake far into the wee hours of the morning...they were like, "Hey....got food?" :gig

Mostly I just have faith and use common sense when positioning shelters like coops and dog houses and arranging to have natural shelter of brush and trees in each pasture paddock. We are very blessed here to have plenty of woods to include in each fenced area. Don't know what folks do who have wide open spaces without shade nor tree shelter when they contend with violent storms and winter snows.
 

bethh

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For tornadoes there's simply no prep that can suffice, so I don't even waste time worrying on those....I give them all over to God and rest easy. Then I check after the storm and thank Him for their safety and for preserving them through the storm.

For rough weather~high winds, etc., all anyone can do is have everything battened down as much as possible when it comes to structures. I've positioned my hoop coop at the base of a slope, which shelters it from behind and crosswise to the prevailing winds, which allows the winds to slip right over the curved design of the hoops. We are high on a ridge with some pretty high winds at times, but the tarps on the hoop coop never budge an inch...I think that curved design coupled with the winds flowing over the top rather than hitting the front of the structure really helps.

This will be the first time I have animals out on pasture 100% and with no shelter they can reach but trees/wooded areas, so I'm counting on them bedding down there in bad weather of all kinds~pretty much the same shelter the wild animals have, which seems to work well for them.

We had the most severe storm the other night that we've had since having the sheep out there without a barn to get into...it was actually their first night away from solid structures~severe thunderstorms with lightning striking continually and very near, high winds, hail, trees uprooted within 50 yds of the paddock, torrential rains, etc. I went to check on the sheep after the worst of it, as we have week old lambs on the ground and expecting more at any time....the sheep greeted me as if nothing was going on, shaking like a dog to rid themselves of the excess rain and wanting any food I may have in my pockets. I had to chuckle about their nonchalant attitude about the violent storm that had awakened us and kept us awake far into the wee hours of the morning...they were like, "Hey....got food?" :gig

Mostly I just have faith and use common sense when positioning shelters like coops and dog houses and arranging to have natural shelter of brush and trees in each pasture paddock. We are very blessed here to have plenty of woods to include in each fenced area. Don't know what folks do who have wide open spaces without shade nor tree shelter when they contend with violent storms and winter snows.
Thank you. I’m watching the weather as the thunderstorms and tornados that came through Mississippi are on the way. I pray everyone is safe and that I don’t have to wake my hubby to go to the basement.
 

Baymule

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Like Bee said, you do the best you can, the rest is up to the Lord. If a tornado squats on you, all you can do is take cover and hope for the best. Yesterday and last night I had 3 big dogs in the house, when we went to bed they moved to the screened porch. Paris, our female GP won't come in the house. She huddles in her dog house, in tornado activity, she would be lost. The horses are free to shelter in their beloved barn or in the woods. The sheep are closed up at night in their barn which is nothing more than a roof off the side of a portable building. 3 sides are open, but they love their home. In hot weather, they will graze in the mornings, go to the gate and yell at me to go back to their barn to ruminate. There is radiant heat barrier under the metal roof that makes a marked difference in the temperature. Yeah, they are spoiled.

We had high winds, the way the trees were whipping around, I thought we would have tornadoes and there were two, but not on us. Power is off right up to our house, for almost 15,000 homes. We have power, our neighbors don't. In other parts of east Texas, there is a lot of trees down and no power. I always go walk the fence lines to check for trees down and check out the barns and shelters when it gets daylight after a storm.
 

bethh

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Like Bee said, you do the best you can, the rest is up to the Lord. If a tornado squats on you, all you can do is take cover and hope for the best. Yesterday and last night I had 3 big dogs in the house, when we went to bed they moved to the screened porch. Paris, our female GP won't come in the house. She huddles in her dog house, in tornado activity, she would be lost. The horses are free to shelter in their beloved barn or in the woods. The sheep are closed up at night in their barn which is nothing more than a roof off the side of a portable building. 3 sides are open, but they love their home. In hot weather, they will graze in the mornings, go to the gate and yell at me to go back to their barn to ruminate. There is radiant heat barrier under the metal roof that makes a marked difference in the temperature. Yeah, they are spoiled.

We had high winds, the way the trees were whipping around, I thought we would have tornadoes and there were two, but not on us. Power is off right up to our house, for almost 15,000 homes. We have power, our neighbors don't. In other parts of east Texas, there is a lot of trees down and no power. I always go walk the fence lines to check for trees down and check out the barns and shelters when it gets daylight after a storm.
Thanks for the support. Glad y’all faired well. I was up until 3:30am waiting for all to pass. The animals and gardens were better off yesterday than I was. I was a mess after not getting to bed so late. I just wasn’t sure what to do for everyone. We put all the goats in one goat shed. Felt it would be better coverage if something were to happen. Our crazy dogs probably just laid out in the open yard even though there are 2 houses out there plus an open goat shed.
 

YourRabbitGirl

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I thought I’d ask how y’all prepare for terrible weather with your animals. We have lgds, goats and chickens. Everyone has shelter but they are outside. We are under tornado watches through the night.
Keeping all pets up-to-date on vaccines, Current Coggins paperwork for each pet if you plan to evacuate, Have an emergency equine wound care/first aid kit on hand Holding trees around fences and trimmed structures
 
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