01/27/06 Weather

Weather Contending with the weather can be a challenge at times. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back right after this to talk about weather that bothers livestock. Just about every animal is affected by the weather and that's pretty common knowledge. Humans watch the weather closely to plan travel, commutes, work and worry if it will help or harm their crops, or if it will mess up their vacation or play time. No matter what, we have to take what we get. Animals seem to know this and just accept whatever weather brings them and take it in stride or endure it in whatever way Mother Nature designed for them. But I have observed that two types of weather seem to affect livestock a little more than you would think. In our part of the country colts are spookier in windy weather, everything seems to bother young horse in training if the wind is blowing. Being a coward at heart I try not to ride colts in the wind. I had a cousin that said too much wind even made him edgy. You know fog can be real tiresome to me and I think it affects animals also. One year the fog laid on the cow's feeding and calving area for nearly two weeks straight. If any of us went to check the cows at any time other than at feeding time all you saw was a tail end of the slowest cow leaving fast and all you heard was the running of all the rest she was trying to catch. They must not have been able to see what was coming out of the fog and weren't taking any chances. Maybe the fog made them just as edgy as the wind made my cousin. I'm Jeff Keane.