Heat Heat Go Away

The heat has arrived in my little corner of northeast Wyoming.

Ugh.

I really dislike heat.  Ask me why I moved out of Arizona.  I couldn’t take the heat, even moving further north in that state didn’t help much.  Oh, and because Robyn asked me to LOL! That was the biggest reason, and so worth it! He was not much for the heat either.

As I write this on Monday afternoon, it is currently 97 degrees at 3:45 in the afternoon.  We are supposed to hit 100 today.  I am seeing areas where the grass is drying out already.  Not unusual for this time of year.  The areas in the shade are still green.  We might get some rain later today which would be good overall.  Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Tuesday morning storm update: Dry storm came in about 9pm. No rain.

Sheep are remarkable creatures when it comes to extremes in temperatures.

Our -52-degree windchills were nothing to sneeze at for us humans. Frozen breath in the balaclava, frozen snotsickles, frozen shut eyes due to frozen lashes, 42 layers of clothes just to stay warm for 20 mins.  Sheep on the other hand have this remarkable thing called a rumen.  When there is food percolating in the rumen, they have their own built-in stove keeping them toasty warm.  Not to mention a big, huge load of wool in the middle of winter.  Those cold temps trip their bodies into production overdrive.  Those cold temps have added an additional ½ to 1” of extra staple length on my fleeces this year for most of my sheepies.

Conversely, heat.  Yup, the rumen is still working, and putting off internal heat.  They do tend to slow down on the eating in the heat though.  They spend way more time lazing around in the shade chewing cud after a big drink of cold water.  Less food in the rumen, means, of course, less heat in their tummies.  It also means a slowdown of wool production during this time.

Sheep don’t pant, but they do breathe faster to blow off any hot air.  And they are working the breathing fast and hard today. 

Their wool is still short but they do have some.  Wool, while keeping them, and you, warmest in winter, also helps sheep to regulate their body temperature.  It does allow their bodies to “breath” and let off body heat.  It’s pretty amazing stuff.  It also protects them from any sunburn.  And before you ask, yes, my sheep wear coats.  Except for the naughties who shred them on the fence.  They are nekked without a coat. 

The naughties are Putt Putt, Yin, Aife, Bradach, Spota, and Runag.  Can’t keep them inside the pasture no matter what!!!  Bad babies!!! Guess that saying is true, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.  At least as far as these sheep are concerned.

Water is a necessary component of life for all of us beings.  Sheep do drink more water in the summer.  I do fill their tanks several times a day in an effort to keep it on the cool side for them.  They also do get Gatorade on the really bad hot days.  One of the big cans of the powder mixed into their tank is a welcome treat for them.  They love the taste, which means they drink more, and the electrolytes sure don’t hurt them any.  They do prefer the original lemon/lime and the cool blue flavor the most. 

Would you have ever thought sheep would have a taste preference??? 

I’ve seen them drink down an entire 50 gallon tank in less than 15 mins with Gatorade in it.  That’s a bit over 1.5 gallons per sheep.  Yahoo water!!!!

I’ve been asked why I don’t open my barn for them to go into during the really hot days.  It’s because it’s a metal barn and it ends up acting like a big oven inside. It gets 30 degrees or more hotter inside the barn vs outside.  Plus, it does not always get a cross breeze blowing thru.  They are much better off outside under the trees.  And we have plenty of trees for them to lounge underneath.  Some of the silly beasts do insist on laying in the sun though. That I do not understand. 

I do not notice a difference in how they act with the ones with coats and the ones without.  The lightweight coats don’t seem to make a difference in the heat for them. 

One big issue can be them getting wet.  I had read that wet sheep in the heat can die quite easily.  I found out the almost hard way that is indeed a truth. 

Several years ago when we were getting ready to move, we had a gentleman who was picking up the scrap metal that Rob had collected over the course of 20+ years.  He decided to show up one hot day when I was not home and Rob was at work.  He also decided that my rams looked too hot and decided to spray them down with the stock tank hose.  I got home and found my boys laying down on their sides and frothing at the mouth.  They were basically steaming to death.  The water had negated the ability of the wool to act like it should to keep them cool.  Said gentleman came up and said, “hey I sprayed them down, they were hot.” 

He was lucky I was not in a position to beat the hell out of him.  I was more worried about trying to cool them off by dragging the big shop fan out to move air over them after I dragged them into the shade of the tree.  I was also forcing via a big syringe cold Gatorade into them. 

That gentleman was lucky I did not lose any of those boys.  He did get a really big profane screaming session from me.  He left the property with his tail between his legs.    

I’m sure you are wondering about rain getting them wet.  My sheep do tend to stay in the trees when it rains, which means they don’t get completely soaked thru.  Plus around here the air temp drops considerably when it rains, so that 100 degrees drops down to a more manageable 80-90ish temp.  Yeah, the humidity does go up, double UGH

Please, if you are on a farm and they are not your animals, don’t do anything before you ask the animals owner.  You will save the animal and not get yourself an asswhooping.

(BTW bread is a huge no-no for livestock!!!  Just don’t!)

So, my babies are out in the shade of our forest of a pasture.  They have been sucking down cool Gatorade.  They are always happy when the sun goes down, as am I.  Everyone is doing great!

On a personal note, I don’t have AC in my house.  Rob and I found the first summer up here that given the age of this house, it’s very very well insulated.  We open the windows up when the sun goes down, the upstairs fan blows out, and the two inside fans blow in.  I can get a really good breeze blowing thru.  It cools the house down overnight and in the morning before the sun gets up very high, I close it up, keep the blinds shut, and the house stays at a relatively comfortable 75ish degrees during the worse part of the days heat.  Makes a huge difference in the electric bill during the summer!!!  Any baking I have to do is first thing in the morning.  Nothing like the smell of fresh bread and coffee at 6am. 

I hope you are all surviving the summer heat.  Pray for cooler fall days!!!

Blessed Be.