Winter Arrives In The North Country

Our temperatures began dropping after a warm autumn, but the fantail pigeons seemed comfortable and warm enough. Any babies hatched now will have little chance of surviving, though:

 The chickens have been eating well because I had excess beans and rice, more than I could eat, and have been feeding them to the hens:

 Their egg production, however, has pretty much stopped for the winter:

 I caulked around the chickens' door, hoping to keep them extra comfortable this winter:

 One morning I found ice all over everything, including the grass, and temperatures as low as 8 F were predicted for the next several days (along with snow and ice):

 So I put the bale spear on the tractor and hauled the first of 88 bales out to the pasture:

 I unwrapped the bale and dropped it into the bale feeder:

 The only problem was that the herd had spent a week in the far field, not even coming in for water. I had to go rouse them and drive them back through the gate into the main south field:

 Blue stood his ground until all the other animals were gone. I wanted to close the gates for the winter, but first I had to go get Blue and convince him to move:

 All the animals were happy to see the hay bale and they dug into it with gusto:

And they wasted quite a bit too:

 The next day our temperatures dropped and we had a snowstorm, so I hung the bird feeders, much to Daisy's delight (that's her in the window):