BLOG

It’s Wisconsin. It gets cold, but we as people and livestock adapt every season. But it helps to have good gear and tools to get the job done. 

Here are some of my favorites ?

For the farm

Sweeter Heater: infrared heater for our warming huts for goat kids. Nice way to get a bit of extra heat without the risk of a traditional heat lamp

Prima’s Heat Lamp – I get mine from Premier 1 Supplies, these heat lamps have quite a bit of safety measures built in

Ice fishing skimmer: a quick skim of goat “berries” in the water tank. It’s tough to dump out water in the winter, if its bad we will. But if it’s just a few, this is a great little tool

Hay/twine knife knife – Since we feed hay in the winter, I’m always needing to cut twine on bales, both large and small. I like the Kaycee Knife from Tractor Supply. Here’s a similar style on Amazon.

Expandable hose for filling water tanks; they are lighter and easier to roll up on a reel or plop in a bucket and carry to a warm spot so they don’t freeze after use

Collapsible hay feeders – We feed lots of round bales! I love these, but they aren’t made by the manufacture anymore, but Lakeland has a similar style.

Drop in tank heaters to keep our water tanks from freezing. These two styles are my favorite. The large one is great for big tanks, keeping it ice free even temps well below zero. The smaller one is great for smaller water buckets (like muck buckets), and it’s low wattage (lower electric bills).

Heater base for our chicken water fount – no frozen water!

For the farmer

Boot dryer – this is great for drying out my damp work gloves, I also use it with the kids boots and gloves when they get home from school

Winter rubber boots – I’m loving my Boggs. They have great treads, work well for my orthotics (thank you farm work) and when paired with warm socks, keep my feet warm and dry!

A good fleece turtle to block out the cold weather on my face

Ski gloves – my favorites have been from Cabelas

Coveralls and my Storm Defender jacket from Carhartt