Coping With Bitterly Cold Weather
 | Author:
Nancy Marks, Reporter
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
Coping With Bitterly Cold Weather
Nancy Marks
Reporter
The sign on the bank in Townsend reads minus 22 degrees. It is midday, Friday, January 12. Broadway is empty of cars. Businesses are closed except for the bars and the hardware store. How do people deal with the first extreme cold spell of winter?
Even though the weather report warned well in advance that bitterly cold weather was on its way, many people waited too long to avoid the pitfalls of frozen pipes, dead batteries and not caring for animals.
JB Howick of Townsend Hardware related how the cold affected his business. “It’s a horrible reality that hardware stores do really well during weather crises,” Howick said his store started the day with 30 milk barn heaters. By 4 o’clock he had only three in stock. People made a run for heat tape, extension cords, insulation and heat lamps. “Mostly they are trying to save their chickens and thaw out their well houses,” he said.
For those who need to call a plumber when pipes are frozen, Special K owner Danny Kurk advises them to close all basement vents, and then have an electrician hardwire in a heating element near the problem area. Kurk said he had 70 calls on Saturday beginning at 6:00 a.m. He and one assistant took calls for the shutdown of propane tank regulators and frozen pipes. “I left my truck running for 18 hours, just moving from one job to the other,” he said.
Sometimes a closed regulator is a blessing. One lady whose propane was closed off called a plumber. He fixed the propane regulator but noticed a vent outside that was not connected to anything. The vent had become disconnected from her water heater, letting carbon monoxide flow into the basement. Fortunately, none of her family suffered monoxide symptoms like headaches and nausea. She felt lucky the plumber noticed the loose vent.
Montana Rail Link had problems with separated rails near Townsend. Saturday morning workers were out heating steel rails with blowtorches so the rails could be reattached.
Dr. Kim Zimmerman of the Elkhorn Veterinary Clinic reminds folks with pets not to think animals with fur can withstand the below-zero weather without bad effects. “Even big dogs used to the outside can develop hypothermia and frozen feet. If a dog is biting at its feet or shivering, it needs to be inside right away. They should have shelter and some kind of bedding like straw. They need clean open water and more food to keep up their energy level,” she pointed out.
As for inside animals such as small dogs and cats, Zimmerman suggested cutting back their feed ration so they do not gain weight during the cold period when they are less active.
Cold weather expands the workload of farmers and ranchers. They fight to get and keep tractors running, hay feeders operating and open water for their animals. Predation becomes even more of a problem.
John Ingalls of the Round Grove Ranch runs 300 head of cattle. He and his crew must move them to fields with natural brush windbreaks or wood storm shelters. They need to chop ice from waterways multiple times a day or make sure the animals have access to a heated water station. “I watch the weather station very closely. Since we are only 70 days out from calving, we feed extra rations of feed to maintain both energy and gain in the animals. The key to helping cows weather cold is to feed them extra oats three or four days before the below-zero weather hits,” he said.
Kelly Ingalls, John’s brother, runs two bands of sheep in winter pasture near Lone Mountain and in the Limestones. He, like his brother, feeds his animals extra rations days before a storm hits. Herders provide each animal with half a pound of oats per day and 20 percent more a day or two before the temperature drops.
The overall strategy Ingalls said is to feed them to keep up their energy. Sheep have heavy wool this time of year which protects them. Feeding them extra oats keeps them in good health.
An animal in good health is more able to avoid being killed by predators such as coyotes. “We try hard to resist predation by not conditioning coyotes to eat sheep,” Ingalls said. “We maintain dogs to chase off the coyotes,” Ingalls said he keeps three dogs for each band, including the Pakistani Akbash dog, which is extremely aggressive toward coyotes, and the gentle white Great Pyrenees.
“We also make sure there are no straggler sheep who might be easy catches for the coyotes. If an animal dies by chance, the herders hurry to pick it up. That way coyotes do not become accustomed to eating tasty mutton,” he explained.
Feeding sheep oats in an open pasture is not as easy as it seems. Ingalls related a story about how the sheep know that oats are stored on a nearby trailer. They can’t open the sacks of oats, so they eat the electrical wires of the taillights on the trailer. “I never have any taillights on that trailer,” he laughed.
Article Images
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Nancy Marks
Image 1 Caption: The bank’s reader board reflected what Broadwater County citizens already knew: Baby It’s cold outside!
Photo Credits: Nancy Marks
Image 2 Caption: Railroad maintenance crews were tasked with heating steel rails with blow torch fires to reconnect rail sections that had separated on Saturday
Photo Credits: Nancy Marks
Image 3 Caption: Newly sheared sheep in a late winter storm in 2023.
Photo credit: Kelly Ingalls
 22 Below on January 12 downtown.JPG)
