Tag Archives: Extreme Cold

Area farmers going above and beyond to care for livestock

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SOUTHWEST MISSOURI — A local farming family is going above and beyond to keep their cattle warm.

Jason Woodward Farmer, said, “I’ll do anything I can possibly do to take care of my livestock and I’ve had to go the extra mile.”

With the recent snow storm, it has made it harder to keep their livestock alive.

“It’s been a major stress. There have been some sleepless nights. I despise this weather. I calve this time of year generally you can expect a few cool nights, but this is extreme.”

If a calf doesn’t get warm, it can die in about an hour due to the cold temperatures. The family has had to improvise.

Lee Woodward, Farmer, said, “We don’t really have a heated barn to put them in so what we do is we bring them in the house and we have like a little heater here. This is just the back room of our home, we threw down some rugs and some cardboard and a rubber matt and we bring them in here and then our daughter Lyla and I usually rub them down while they’re are taking care of the mamas.”

Keeping them in the house has made life easier to keep the babies alive.

“I would say we kinda lost track of how many calves we have taken care of in here. A lot of them. I bet we have at least seventeen come through this little area before we can get them back to mama. And all the calves we’ve brought in here have made it, I think out of of the 18 calves that we’ve had we’ve only lost one.”

Once they are warm and fed enough colostrum milk, they still have one more obstacle to get through.

“My main goal is to get them warmed up as quick as possible and get them back to mom so that they don’t forget about that bond. And that mom will go ahead and take that calf back,” said Jason.

The Woodwards will continue to keep them warm once the snow thaws.

“I think that people underestimate how much farmers really care for their livestock they’ll anything to keep them alive and put the work in it and they just do what needs to be done,” said Lee.

Extreme cold tough on technology

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JOPLIN, Mo. — Keeping tabs on your technology is also a good idea with these frigid temperatures.

What kinds of problems are we talking about?

The colder the temperature, the bigger the risk. It could be anything from cutting battery power in half to shutting down a device completely.

John Motazedi, SNC Squared Tech Group, said, “Technology has a real challenge working at a certain range. Once it’s very very cold, it has a problem.”

Many devices have a normal operating range of zero to 120 degrees.

“That really becomes a challenge when you have outdoor led lights, outdoor surveillance cameras, door locks, motion sensors. Equipment that really needs to stay warm or that’s designed to work at a different temp that what we’re having currently.”

So colder temperatures may mean they’re just not working. The devices will likely return to normal function as the weather warms, but some owners may want to upgrade to models designed for extreme cold. And even cell phones, tablets, and laptops can be affected if forgotten in your car.

“The cold has a terrible tendency to reduce battery power – and it can in some cases reduce your power of your batteries by 50% simply because it just gets cold.”

You want to warm them gradually, giving at least 30 to 60 minutes before use.

For more on protecting technology visit https://www.sncsquared.com/

“If you leave them in the cold then bring them into a warm building, you get condensation on the electronics – condensation is a really bad thing. Electronics and water typically don’t mix well together.”

Also, you’ll want to extra careful handling devices in the cold. Those temperatures can make the housing more brittle, making it easier to crack or shatter.