A cold day in February

Usually Amy does these posts but I figured I'd send one out because today it was -12f and people sometimes wonder what the cows do when it's cold outside. Our milking cows live in a composting bedded-pack barn, which means the air temperature is the same as outside, but the pack is actually about 55 degrees or so on the surface due to the composting happening deep in the pile. That said, cows love cold weather and some of them will sleep outside in the snow, although not usually at -12.

I got up at 4:15 and headed to the barn like normal, the air was crisp and the snow was squeaky but there was no wind and the stars were brilliant. I thought to myself "I love this." It was quiet and calm in the barn. The dry cows were in their stalls in the barn and were all chewing their cud and keeping the barn warm with their body heat. The calves were all sleeping in their pens, snuggled into the straw. I checked the maternity pen, which has 8 cows waiting to calve, but none this morning. When I opened the door to the pack barn where the milkers sleep the lights were off which means that no cows had been moving for half an hour or so (there are motion sensing lights so they can see if they want to eat or drink). The door to the pack barn slides and the condensation had frozen the door almost completely shut. As soon as it opened the cows started getting up and clouds of water vapor rose from each bed as the heat trapped under them was released. The Pack looks kinda funny right after they get up with big oval patches surrounded by light frosted areas. The cows love to come in the barn and get milked and require almost nothing from me to get in, although when it's cold out it would be nice to get them in a little bit faster so the parlor doesn't get so cold. Milking at -12 is not so bad because I can cuddle right up to the cows and they're very warm. The cows go right back outside after milking and into the pack barn. When the sun came up at about 7:30 I looked out and all the cows were outside in the snow facing into the sun to catch some solar radiation. The looked quite happy, unfortunately by the time I got the camera they had shifted around and some had started eating. Oh well.