Farms in winter

For rural residents, many of whom are farmers and ranchers the sound of a snowplow coming down the road is music to the ear. This time of year, snow across the West isn’t a rarity. Cattle have had enough horses, too. And the sheep, many getting ready to deliver lambs, are ready for warmer, drier weather. A proprietor of a Country Store and Post Office sometimes has trouble negotiating her commute to work.

I was stuck in my driveway this morning, so I had to catch a ride in. I’m sure that's what everybody’s saying”.

Plowing out homeowner tractors can get busy this time of year. And that can be good news for a repairman like Dennis Barnhart.

“The cold snap comes in and people forgot to get fuel treated. So they're freezing things up. And we're finding a lot of other issues with the colder temperatures coming in. Battery's going bad, just minor things like that. But we're finding out what these new tractors with this DLF Fuel Systems, now the diff is freezing up and cold temperatures and we're having a lot of problems with that.”

Barnhart travels plenty across Idaho back roads and says folks just need to slow down. “I worked in the woods for 14 years, so I'm kinda used to being on these slick roads and watching these crazy people trying to get from point A to point B because they're always in a hurry for everything. They need to slow down.

Old man winter can make life tough on the farms across the west in the winter but come spring and summer, farmers will smile large with a plentiful supply of water for irrigation.