Chance of Snow!!
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Our snowman last December.
While most of the United States of America is accustomed to snow in their winter weather forecast, it is a rarity in Southeast Texas. We actually have a chance of this beautiful precipitation on Friday and Saturday. Already this week it has snowed in El Paso, Lubbock, and Dallas.
Last year two weeks before Christmas it snowed. It snowed hard during the evening hours. My kids bundled up and went out in the darkness to play in the snow because we knew it probably would not last until the morning. They built a 8 inch snowman and a extra large snowball. They made snow angels on the trampoline. As funny as this might sound to someone in Colorado, we had a blast.
Hopefully it will snow again this year at Cross Creek Cattle Company. We don’t need it. It is not a necessity; however, a little snowfall is good for the soul. It brings the kid out of anyone regardless how old. It brings a sense of quiet to the ranch as even the animals stop to admire the beauty of a falling snowflake. They have no idea what it is, but they know it is special.
When we have a winter blast of cold weather, we do have to take precautions for our animals. We put the cows on a pasture with a wind block to the North. Usually a solid, thick portion of a wooded pasture helps block out the bitter, cold wind. Sometimes it is the dam on the lake. Whatever the form of the wind block, we make sure that our cattle are as warm as possible. We also give them plenty of hay as the grass in the pastures are gone until spring.
We have a very old horse named Ladd. He starts shivering at 50 degrees; therefore, he wears a horse blanket when the temperatures dip. The blanket does a great job holding in his body heat. Ladd quite enjoys his occasional winter outfit.
Of course if it does freeze, our main concern is water. We have to ensure that all of our animals have access to fresh drinking water. When I was a child living on this ranch, I raised animals for 4-H. I remember many mornings before the sun rose above the horizon that I was outside with a flashlight breaking the ice off of the top of the water troughs.
Winters here at the ranch are typically mild, which is great for our cattle and horses. They do not have to endure long freezing cold winters. However this weekend we wait with anticipation to see if we will receive any snow.
