High Desert Cowboy- How far is it up north?

[Bruce]

You might not want that heated trough when the electric bill comes! But having water right at the corrals would be a huge benefit.

 

[Baymule]

We had a little higher temp this morning,-6! I’ve been too spoiled this winter. as I was hauling buckets of water I realized how great it’s been being able to use a hose everyday and remembering one more thing on my list of wants, a new waterline that goes right to the corrals. With a heated trough!

Don't forget the heated waterhose!

 

[thistlebloom]

You might not want that heated trough when the electric bill comes! But having water right at the corrals would be a huge benefit.

I will happily pay the higher electric bill to keep all the heated waterers. Hauling water and breaking ice gets very old very fast.
I don't actually know how much they increase my bill, but it doesn't seem like it's too much. I have 3 troughs, and 3 dog bowls, one is the chickens. The cats also have a heated kennel mat in their insulated house.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

It went right back to lovely weather so no more ice in the trough or hauling buckets. I finally got a manger built for the sheep pen to keep them from stomping all over their feed. Today I trimmed 5 horses for a friend and I’m beat. Trimming and shoeing is so much easier when you’re doing it every day. In college a good friend of mine taught me how to shoe and we had quite the business all over northern Utah and southern Idaho and would run after classes or on the weekends and do a ton of horses. Now I just do mine and a friends and it’s a lot harder to do 5 horses anymore. I’m definitely out of shape

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

I will happily pay the higher electric bill to keep all the heated waterers. Hauling water and breaking ice gets very old very fast.
I don't actually know how much they increase my bill, but it doesn't seem like it's too much. I have 3 troughs, and 3 dog bowls, one is the chickens. The cats also have a heated kennel mat in their insulated house.

We use heat tape for our 300 gallon water tank in the barn and in 5gallon buckets for water for most. The ducks ate through the heat tape twice and blew the breaker! Darned ducks!

 

[Bruce]

Better than blowing the duck! Maybe a stock tank deicer would be a better choice than heat tape, likely cheaper on the electric bill a well.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

After a nice warm winter we finally got snow last night! It started as rain and started really coming down when we went to bed. Woke up to 5 inches or so that’s already starting to melt, I imagine it will be gone by Tuesday. So we decided to have some fun while it lasted and made a snowataur!

we don’t have an abundance of trees for snowman arms but sagebrush works great in a pinch. Can’t always be all work right?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Love it!

 

[Baymule]

That's the kind of fun that kids remember all their lives. You done good.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

Well the snow has lasted a lot longer than I thought it would and we’re supposed to receive more on Sunday. So rather than try to get anything done out in the cold I’ve been doing work inside as we decided to put our tax return toward finishing our basement. I did manage to talk my wife out of trying to do it all at once as I’d prefer not to have anymore debt than necessary so we’ll do a bedroom and family room for now. I’ve got the room pretty much framed in the last two days and I’ll start on the other half today. One thing I find neat in all of this is I get to use the old saw my grandpa used to build his house back in 1970.