• Providing animals with more food than usual (include extra roughage to get them through the cold nights).
• Ensuring an adequate and dependable water source. (Guard against frozen pipes!).  Use plastic food and water bowls rather than metal to protect the animal’s tongue.
• Keeping pets and smaller animals indoors when the temperature drops below freezing.
• Keeping de-icing products and other winter chemicals away from animals; clean contaminated paws as needed.
• Considering a wind- or water- proof blanket for horses who live outdoors full-time; smaller livestock, such as goats, may also benefit from a blanket or coat. 
• Providing a windbreak for animals that stay in a field or pasture.

“The windbreak can be a large portion of brush, a heavy board or piece of canvas secured over a fence, or a manmade shelter – something they can get behind to guard themselves from bitter cold blasts of air,” says Heather Smith Thomas, Livestock Q&A columnist and regular contributor to Hobby Farms magazine.

©Lesley Ward

Smith Thomas’ first-hand experience with livestock in winter includes successfully seeing her family’s large herd of cattle through the frigid blizzards of February 1989. It was the end of calving season, and as she and her husband helped bring up to five calves a day into the world, they dealt with temperatures of up to 80 degrees below zero, with wind chill.

Thomas says their 24-hour workdays were especially challenging as they rushed newborn calves indoors to dry them before the icy temperatures threatened their lives. “We let the new moms smell their calf and lick it once; then we took it indoors.”

Be sure to talk to a veterinarian, local university extension agent or experienced livestock owner for advice specific to your area and weather conditions. You may also find additional information by contacting an expert at one of the Livestock Associations listed in our Resources section.