Farmers take steps to protect livestock from frigid weather
While most people are curled up under a fleece throw in their toasty homes when the wind chills drop below zero, those with animals in the barn must ensure their horses, cows and other livestock are safe from Old Man Winter’s grip.
Amy Sasse, of Concord Township, grew up in Penn Township taking care of her family’s horses with the help of her parents and siblings.
Sasse’s love of all things equine continued after she married and had her daughters, Emma, 9, and Mia, 5, both of whom accompany their mom to the barn in all weather to help with the family’s three horses.
“My family really included us in caring for the animals, so my whole life I was in the barn cleaning stalls, breaking ice out of water buckets and feeding,” she said. “I grew up that way, and I want my children to also grow up that way and learn responsibility.”
In frigid temperatures such as the -1 degree wind chill Saturday, Sasse first and foremost ensures the horses always have hay.
“When it’s cold, horses need to have hay in front of them all the time because the hay in their stomachs keeps them warmer, from the fermentation in their gut,” she said.
She feeds her horses hay from a round hay dispenser in the pasture, which lasts about two weeks after being filled with a huge round bale of hay.
The three horses also get grain every day, rain, snow, sleet or hail.
Sasse’s appaloosa is overweight, so only receives about 1 pound of grain per day. A mixed-breed pony ridden by her daughter gets about 8 pounds per day.
“Her teeth are not as good, so I think she has trouble eating hay, so she doesn’t keep weight on from hay and forage like the others do,” she said.
The family’s miniature horse, because of its diminutive stature, gets only a handful of grain each day.
Regarding water, Sasse uses a floating stock tank heater, which prevents the water in the 100-gallon water tank from freezing so the horses can drink from it.
A tank lasts about five days, so when it’s low, the Sasses have to connect a long hose to a water spigot in their basement and stretch the hose to the tank in the barn to fill it.
“I need about 150 feet of hose to get up to the barn,” Sasse said. “In the summer, I leave the hose out because it’s not going to freeze.”
She said horses grow a winter coat to help protect them from frigid weather.
“Generally, a horse will grow a nice, long, warm coat in the winter, but that can differ depending on the breed,” Sasse said. “I do go out and check on them in the morning, especially when it’s super cold, because they may be shivering.”
If that’s the case, Sasse covers the horse in a blanket to help bring up body temperature.
She said some people shave their horses’ winter coats if the animals are being shown, are in training or being ridden frequently, so the animals don’t get overheated while sweating with such a heavy growth.
Sasse said horses shown in English categories in the winter are shaven, as judges do not approve of a winter coat. Those horses wear specialty blankets while in the barn, she said.
“We don’t do any kind of showing in the winter,” Sasse said.
When Sasse pulls on her boots, hat and gloves to check the horses in the morning, she does worry the horses could slip on on ice in the pasture and injure themselves.
“They can navigate snow very well, but can slip and fall pretty easily when it’s icy,” she said.
When her 3- or 4-acre pasture gets an icy spot, Sasse blocks off that area.
Sasse, who graduated in 2006 from Knoch High School as Amy Turner, said she never thinks of getting out of the horse world.
“It’s hard work, but it’s worth it,” she said.
Rick Ritenour, owner of Ritenour Alpacas in Center Township, said his 14 alpacas love to be in the pasture in regular winter weather.
“They like the cold weather,” he said. “(Friday) night, they were laying outside. In the summer, we have to put fans on them to keep them cool.”
The animals grow a heavy coat that Ritenour shaves annually in late April to produce the world’s warmest socks, hats, scarves and sweaters.
But Ritenour said when the mercury or wind chill dips below zero or a particularly icy wind is buffeting his farm, he closes the barn doors so his alpacas remain inside.
Like any large-animal operation, his daily chores — while not difficult or too strenuous — must be completed.
“Normally, all we really have to do is clean up their droppings once or twice a day and make sure the hay feeders are full,” Ritenour said.
He also uses a floating tank heater to prevent the alpacas’ water from freezing.
“Water is the most important thing with alpacas because they are in the camelid family, and they drink a lot of water,” said Ritenour, who has a generator so water will not freeze in a winter power outage.
He also checks the hay feeders, which hold rectangular bales of hay.
“They always have hay,” Ritenour said. “They can eat as much as they want.”
Although alpacas like to be cool, he puts a special coat on an animal if there is a cold snap in April after they are shaved.
“They don’t like to be outside naked,” Ritenour said with a chuckle.
Luke Frazier, 17, also of Center Township, gets up at 5:50 a.m. on weekdays to feed his two beef cows, fill their hay dispenser, and check to ensure his floating water tank heater is preventing freeze-up.
Luke, a junior at Butler Senior High School, has the pair of market steer or rifle practice on his mind toward the end of the school day.
“The first thing I do when I get home is go out and give them their evening feeding, check the water again, and fill the hay rack,” Luke said, “and I usually give them a whole new bale of fresh bedding.”
He said the cows can get into or out of the barn as they please, “but most of the time, they’re laying inside.”
He said the straw bedding he puts on the floor to keep the steer warm in the winter can be difficult to clean up on frigid mornings.
“With them lying on it and walking on it in the winter, it gets very hard very quick,” Luke said. “It likes to stick to the ground and the matting is really hard.”
Like all who care for large animals in the throes of winter cold, Luke wouldn’t change a thing.
“It’s just another day, and I’m just beyond blessed to take care of them,” he said.
