hi I'm Mike over the last few days we've been dealing with the biggest snowstorm
well so far this winter with about a foot of new snow and winds up to about
40 miles an hour and temps down to almost 10 below zero today we're gonna
see how the ranch deals with a blizzard and the process of starting to dig out
on our Wyoming life
Happy New Year and welcome back to our longing life you know any time around
here we never know what to expect and this year is actually proving to be no
different thanks for joining us for another year
and if you're new please subscribe and join us as we continue to explore the
ranch life and escape the ordinary now we knew we had a storm on the way we
were forecasted for up to nine inches of snow overnight but waking up we were
surprised by how it affected the entire area all of the roads in the county were
closed there was no going to town there was no going anywhere as snow along with
high winds had created some major drifting and that drifting can cause
some interesting things some areas the ranch are bare some are plagued with
four-foot snowdrifts and it's those drifts that make things fun but can also
cause problems for animals we don't get to take a snow day everybody still needs
fed water still need checked and more importantly animals have to be able to
get to the food and the water although I would much rather stay inside we have to
venture out and do our chores the process of feeding well isn't much
different just a little bit more difficult we keep a close to the house
for just such situations but sometimes getting to that hay can even be a battle
luckily we have the tractor the snow is light enough that the giant drifts don't
cause too much trouble although a running start does help the bales we
keep close by are stacked over by Aaron's high tunnels which seem to have
avoided the majority of the drifting and because the storm is still ongoing
there isn't much point in trying to clear any of the snow yet anything we
open up will drift back in and once the storm passes we'll have plenty of time
to move snow around for now our goal is just to get the cows fed water and
animals checked each patch of bare ground blowed and
somewhat clean leads to another drift some bigger than others but we move
steadily through to get the cows their food they tend to stay in the barn and
weather like this but food always brings them out and with cold temperatures
we're gonna actually feed extra as we can count on digestion to create body
heat the more they eat the warmer they're gonna be and that's one luxury
that we can afford to give them today all told they're gonna eat about 4,500
pounds of hay today hopefully enough to last them a little while and keep them
warm we also check not only the breeding cows but other cows and animals around
the ranch with the snow and the drifts the only way to get around the ranch day
is with the tractor and it becomes our sole source of transportation the pigs
are fed and steers and calves and other Corral's are checked on as drifting
happens it can sometimes limit access to water for cows and the only thing we can
do today is make sure they have an area open enough for them to get through
tanks that are currently filled with snow or filled with water and everybody
may not be happy but at least they're fed and we can wait out the rest of the
storm but the work isn't done of course days like today lend itself perfectly to
getting something done in the shop and today we're gonna work on the Gator
while it can't go anywhere and while it's snowed in our Gator is a 2011 825
eye it's been used a lot around the ranch and Gilbert originally bought it
for himself then decided that he liked his little Gator better it's much better
than going out in the winter on a four-wheeler to check cows especially at
night during camping and it has been a godsend
one thing that I've never liked about it however are the lights we've added a
spotlight to the top of it to help at night but you might as well hold the
flashlight out the window now is the time to fix that problem before calving
and before we're going to be out checking
cows at night for Christmas my mother-in-law gave me a new light for
the Gator it's a 24 inch LED light bar the plan is to mount it to the Gator and
I thought about putting it up high but I'm not sure how it'll obstruct the
spotlight so the plan is to mount it down lower on the grill guard
luckily the installation and assembly is pretty much idiot-proof which may be why
my mother-in-law got it for me in the first place the first step is to install
the switch that will control the light bar we're gonna mount it in the dash and
we're gonna make a 3/4 inch hole to accommodate it using a step drill bit we
can drill into the faceplate of the dash until we can get the wiring through and
pump the switch into place next up is power and that's gonna come off the
battery now I could wire it into the switch but I don't know if I'll ever
need the lights when the Gators not running so we're gonna wire it directly
to the battery other accessories are wired this way including the dome light
and the harness for the cake feeder but there's room for one more set of wires
the harness that was included is nice it's all-inclusive with a fuse and the
plugs needed so not much wiring is really required after hooking it up to
the battery wires are ran to the front where we can test it and see if it works
now it's time to mount it to the Gator the brackets are attached to the light
using supplied bolts and then we can attach them to the grill guard marking
our place for the holes then drilling it out and attaching it with quarter inch
bolts this thing's going to be bouncing around a lot so let's not forget lock
washers although I'm sure I'm still gonna have to remember to retighten it
after a few hours of rattling around
after getting the light mounted a was off to work in the Attic but I can't
show you any of that because we're planning on debuting a new livestream
studio in office in our next livestream which will actually take place this
Thursday to the 3rd at 7 p.m. I can tell you it's gonna be done and it looks
amazing mostly due to Aaron who's much better at
designing things like that than I am I do hope that you can pop in and join us
as we plan on having a guest here with us who without his help we never would
have got it done the storm has stopped the Sun is now shining and I'm happy to
say that the cows made it through without any problem as for the ranch
it's time to start digging out again the tractor is all that can move around even
the Bobcat would probably get stuck and after attaching the bucket we can start
the process of moving snow and making paths
time it's sometimes a short supply around here but a snow day for us just
means more time to get something else done that might have waited until we
really needed it trying to stay ahead of the project list
is just as much a part of the list as marking things off and thanks for coming
along today there's plenty of more snow to move and I can't wait to get the
Gator out and try out this new light yes that's gonna have to wait until dark
again I hope that you can join us Thursday for the live stream there are
always a lot of fun and a chance for us to get to hang out with you and
hopefully being in a new space the whole thing goes off without a hitch but I
guess we'll just have to wait and see on that
thanks again be sure to subscribe and give this video a big thumbs up and if
you don't mind do me a favor and comment below what's your favorite video of 2018
was maybe one that sticks in your mind maybe it was a project list video maybe
it was anything else but I think it'd be fun to see what you guys really like and
then we can do more of that I'm gonna go move some more snow and I'll see you on
Thursday until then have a great week and thanks for joining us in our Wyoming
life