So many folks want to know how my mules fair in weather like this. These animals have lived since birth on the farm and have always lived outdoors. If you understand the way my land lays, you will know that we have nooks and crannies where the winds don't blow. The mules have figured that out long ago and they are free to go seek shelter or stand in the winds.
With that said, here are the girls digging and browsing in the summer pasture after the first snowfall.
I thought it would be nice for them to have something to do rather than stand around and look bored in the winter pasture. So I opened the gates to one of the summer pastures.
Their heated water is down by the house along with their hay feeders.
Feeding in the winter pasture [this is in front of the house]:
When they are done there, they head to the woods to browse on items they don't eat in the summer. Apparently multiflora rose leaves are tasty in the winter as well as other dried out weeds.
They are bit more exposed to the weather in this area as it is nearly on the ridge. But it is their choice. The browse, they constantly move and graze just like their wild ancestors.
This is a shot from this past summer in the are where they can browse right now.
And...
when they feel like moving, they move into the woods and stand together in their own little herd.
At 8AM and at 4PM they show up in the paddock at the front of the house and stare at the house until I appear with loads of hay.
I check them more than once a day in cold weather. I stick my hand under their snow-covered coats to feel their body heat. And it is there!
Well, time to get going. So many adventures from yesterday and more for this weekend. I just got texts from my new neighbor asking if I knew of anyone that could help get his truck out of the ditch up on the ridge.
I gave him names of those who could probably help him and one is a neighbor farmer who is also runs a township plow.
Last night all plows were pulled off the roads due to poor visibility and dangerous conditions.
It looks like we will see the sunlight today for a bit while Mother Nature does her thing to remind us about what winter is like.
