Amazing Travis, how are the sheep making out in this, thats all I can think of. I cannot relate to this temp. Its artic conditions. I thought we had it bad at -27 Celius but thats only -16 to you.
Have you ever checked on how accurate your temp sensor is. This was one of the critical things I checked on when I bought my weather station, that and my requirement to be able to measure multiple points wirelessly.
Whats the temp with the cows and how does this affect milk production. Do they eat more and produce less in temps like this or does little change.
Rob I think the sensor is fairly accurate.The reason I say that is the inside temp is spot on at 68º. Additionally the cold temps was the talk of the town here too and many other people had the same readings. The problem is, when the air is this still, it gets cold, and when it gets cold, you can have spots that are warmer or colder. My dad gets hit with frost in the Spring far earlier then I do, and he is only 500 feet away...but down a hill.
As for the sheep, they are fine. Their noses were all frosted up, but I do give them extra feed and probiotics. That gives them more energy and gets their stomachs churning which produces internal heat for them. If given before nightfall, they process that food all night and have high energy levels to stay warm.
As for the cows, dairy farms do well in Northern States because a Holstein cow prefers temps to be 27º. However, a farmer likes temps at 68º/ So what we do is super insulate a barn and let the heat from the cows warm up the barns to a balmy 50º or so. Its a compromise.
As for the poultry industry, that was killed off here by the high price of oil. For many years it was a thriving industry, but in the late 70's when the price of oil spiked, it was not economical to heat our huge chicken barns and raise broilers. Instead the chickens headed south and the chicken plants here closed up. For the farmers in the south, keeping chickens means simply fencing them in and requires no heat...thus more economical. It's the reason why dairy farms flourish in the northern states, and chicken reigns supreme in the South.
As for me, the only issue I have is that I have to brush my teeth in warm water. That's because I ran my water lines for the sink through my concrete slab. Sine I have radiant floor heat, and the boiler is running overtime to keep the place warm...those water lines for my sink are always luke warm.
By the way,this is NOT the coldest I have ever seen. 5-6 years ago we got down to -55º. Before that, -32º was the coldest I had experienced.