Things you dislike having to do this time of year

[old]

Well I just came in from having the mess with one of the water tanks I have for the horses and goats. This time of year I try to keep a slow trickle of water going so as to not have it freeze over but that only works part of the time. I noticed when I went out and check for eggs that the goats where all at the tank so went and checked it and sure enough ha as layer of solid ice on top. So I had to break the ice and then pull piece out so they could get water. You ever notice no matter what gloves you might try to wear to do that you hands get cold and wet and boy that cold sure goes a long ways
 

[da.bees]

Pay taxes?
 

[Zachary Hoyt]

Maybe you could use ice tongs. I have also used a clean manure fork to fish ice out of a tank years ago, it seems like it worked but I can't recall how easy it was.
Zach
 

[jackinok]

i always hated breaking ice on the tanks,thats one thing i wont miss. last few years i used automatic heaters on the tanks and they worked well most of the time. theres nothing i really like about cold weather!everything seems to be about twice as hard in the winter.
 

[rrlund]

Right with'ya. Had a pipe froze this morning for no reason whatsoever. I've got two that slope out through the barn to fill tanks. Have a short piece of hose on the high end of each one of'em that I hook to the frost proof hydrant in the other end of the barn. One of the pipes was froze this morning. Tried the little propane torch,a pail of hot water,couldn't get it. Had to take the cutting torch down there. Heated both ends,figured it had to be at one end or the other. Nope,was right in the middle where there's good slope. Of course it took me an hour to get to that point.
 

[Keith-OR]

Hey "Old", I feel for ya, but I can't quite reach ya..LOL

We've only had to break ice here a couple of times. If it gets any colder I'll put in the auto tank heater...DON'T like to break ice!!!!!

Hope ya had a Merry Christmas
 

[Larry NEIL]

When I put new rail fence up I was going to dig in a frost free hydrant @ the water trough. Wife raised a fit about messing the yard up, which I would have. She was sick then, so I left it alone, but it would have been nice. Pull my water hose, 100 footer into heated barn now.
 

[old]

Hey I see you crawled out from under your rock and came up to see the light LOL. I learned to hate them electric tank heaters years ago when I went to check on one and got the *^&%^# zapped out of me. Unplugged it and threw it just as far as I could and that wasn't far enough
 

[Keith-OR]

Oh, so now ya let the cat out of the bag!!! We now know what yer problems are...lol lol lol

Just could not resist that response

Gotcha!!!

Just been out side enjoying the nice beautiful sunshine and spring weather...
 

[IaGary]

Old I was told just a week ago or so that system was fool proof if it was done right for keeping tanks thawed out.

It would be tough to regulate the flow.Either not enough water running to keep from freezing or to much causing an over flow on the tank is my thoughts.

Never ending adjustments.

Just my observation.
 

[fixerupper]

What do I dislike having to do this time of year? STEP OUT THE DOOR! Plain and simple. Took care of animals the old fashioned way for 40 years so I do sympathize with you guys and gals who have to deal with frozen water every morning. When I was a kid in school I had to fire up the smokey cob and wood fired tank heater every morning before school. When I finally got the draft right so the smoke went up the chimney and not back out the door I really thought I had accomplished something. Here in NWIA if we left a hose running we would have a huge skating rink for the rest of the winter. Jim
 

[showcrop]

Get some ducks to swim in it. I drove by a lake yesterday that was frozen except for a little area where there were some ducks.
 

[Mike (WA)]

Didn't happen too often here, but would sometimes have a week or two of near zero. We sure weren't set up for it. Remember sitting on a stool, thawing milking machine pulsator with a propane torch, when I was 7 or 8. Dad milked with one, while I thawed the other, then we'd switch. Meanwhile, water pipes and troughs were freezing up all over the place. Not much fun.
 

[old]

Most of the time my system works just fine but once in a while it gets knocked out of whack and when it does you have to play with it. I have an over flow set up so the extra water goes into a pond I have. To bad I do not have it so the pond waters the animals but the pond just isn't in the right place and boy ponds are very very hard to move LOL
 

[Glenn F.]

Fixerupper's got it right. While I've lived my whole life in it r near NE WI, and can take the cold as well as anyone, I can't sa I like it. It's a toss up which I dislike more, the cold or the short days. Not sure why I live up here, but June, July, and August in a warmer climate sounds pretty miserable too.

Glenn F.