In a continuation of the wicked cold stretch of weather, last night our low temperature was -16 degrees F. This is the lowest temperature in our eight winters of living here, and may be the coldest on record, at least that I can find. We spent the night half-awake, worrying about our livestock. I went out before dawn to check on things, and all the animals were fine. It's amazing how much cold weather pigs can take. Some of the sows were a bit restless, wandering about their pens and grunting, but for the most part they were all asleep, snoring contentedly. Some were buried in the straw so deeply that you couldn't see them. The only evidence was a slight heaving of the straw pile and escaping steam from their breath.
Coming out of an extremely cold stretch it feels like dawn has arrived. Indeed, we are getting a day of brilliant sun, a phenomenon we have not seen in the better part of a week. It's now a balmy 13 degrees, and feels like a heatwave. We feel a bit victorious that nothing bad happened last night, like hypothermia, broken waterers, or burst pipes.
Sometimes the best blessings are the lack of problems.
