Below zero temps often mean turning up the heat, adding layers or tossing another log on the fire. But those aren’t options for the animals at Wilton’s Millstone Farm. So how do they cope with the serious freeze we’re all experiencing?
Johnny Cameron, the farm manager at Millstone, is the man charged with making sure the sheep, pigs, chickens and llamas at the farm are as comfortable as possible. He says keeping them warm is a combination of human effort and the animals’ natural ability, or as he humbly puts it, “They’re good at coping, with a little assistance from us.”
“The most important thing is that they have shelter and that they’re out of the wind, which would cause them more problems than anything else. They spend about 80-percent of their time inside. We make sure we pick animals that are winter hardy. They’re heritage breeds, so they have an in-built ability to cope with the weather we get around here.”
Each of the animals naturally do their part to keep themselves warm. “They create much of their own heat,” Cameron says. He’s also made sure to build all of the animal shelters to face the south, so they get as much warmth from the sun as possible.
Cameron says that as long as the pigs are out of the wind and dry, they’re usually able to keep themselves dry without a problem–they do have an extra layer of fat around them, after all. But he does do some additional things to help give the pigs a bit more protection from the elements.
“We give the pigs lots of bedding. They’re able to surround themselves in the bedding and really get dug down in their hut. It’s amazing how much heat they can actually generate in that small space. It’s wind free, and I have extra shelters. At the front of the pig hut we built a wind break. I try to keep a couple of them together so they can generate a little heat from each other. If you go into the pig huts in the morning, when a couple have been sleeping together, it’s actually really warm in there,” he says.
With three breeding females and two boars on the farm the number of pigs Millstone keeps can increase to about 15-20, although there aren’t that many there at the moment. “We’re going to have a birth fairly soon,” Cameron says. “Hopefully it will be on a bit of a warmer day.” He adds that he’ll use heat lamps for any piglets. “Once they get through the first 24 hours, it’s amazing how well they do.”
As for the farm’s chickens, they get moved from their mobile coops into a shed for the winter. “There are probably about 200 of them packed in there at the moment. Their roosts are up high off the ground–it’s really only their feet and combs that are susceptible to the cold. When they roost they sit on their feet to keep them warm and you just hope the shed stays warm enough so their combs don’t freeze. That won’t happen in the shed they’re in,” Cameron explains.
There’s also a bit of environmental science in the chicken coop that helps. “There’s a lot of chicken manure and straw on the floor composting away, which actually produces heat itself. If you open up the door, with 200 chickens, it might be minus-15 outside but it’s pretty warm in there.”
While the cold doesn’t have much effect on how many eggs the chickens produce, what does impact it is the amount of daylight. “We have to give them artificial light from the fall onwards, to make sure they get at least 12-hours of light a day,” Cameron says. “They lay more eggs in the summertime, possibly beause they’re getting more grass to eat. But the egg production has been pretty good through the winter. I’m pleased with it.”
There are also 32 Shetland sheep at Millstone, which Cameron says are the easiest animals to keep through the winter. “They’re an old breed from the Shetland Islands off of Scotland. They don’t seem bothered no matter what the temperature is. Sometimes you’ll find them sitting out in the rain or the snow. They thrive in winters like this,” Cameron says.
Also bunking in the barn are two llamas that the farm keeps, mainly because they help protect the sheep by scaring off coyote. “They’re just as tough handling the cold as the sheep are. They’ve got good coats on them,” Cameron says.
One funny thing happened when Cameron moved one of the roosters into the barn with the sheep and llamas. “He seemed to instantly make friends with one of our old ewes. Now he grooms the sheep. I put another chicken in with him to keep him company and now they’re to two happiest roosters on the farm,” he laughs.
He’s hung thick plastic sheeting at many of the shed entrances, similar to what you’d find outside the big freezer at a supermarket. That gives some additional protection from the wind, while also giving the animals some autonomy over when they want to go out or come in.
Adding additional weatherproofing is just one thing. Cameron says it takes a lot of extra human work to make sure the animal residents at Millstone get through the winter safe and sound. Much of his day is consumed with making sure the animals stay warm.
There’s a lot of snow to dig out. “If we get a heavy snowfall, I’ve got to dig a path for myself so I can even get to the animals. I’ve got to clear the area to get the doors open on the chicken coops and the pigs can get around.
He also tries to pay attention to their comfort. “I give them warm water in the morning, which makes a big difference. It makes a difference to the pigs if they can get some warmth into them instead of the cold stuff–except to the sheep; they’re quite happy eating snow, half the time.”
But with the taps sometimes frozen up, that means Cameron has to haul water around by hand, a heavy and time-consuming task. He also has to lug around more feed, as it’s something he increases with the animals burning more energy trying to stay warm.
He’s willing to do the heavy labor, however.
“I’d hate to think of any animal suffering because there wasn’t enough bedding or good shelter,” Cameron says.