Year-to-Date Weather Summary

Hi Temperature: 90.3 deg F, 32.4 deg C
Low Temperature: -12.9 deg F, -25 deg C
Precipitation: 23.75 in, 60.32 cm
Avg. Wind: 6.8 mph, 10.9 kmph
Hi Wind: 47 mph, 75.6 kmph

Our high temperature in February was 46/7.7 degrees F/C, our low was -7/-21.6 degrees F/C, and our mean temperature was 22.3/-5.38 degrees F/C, which is 5.7/2.8 degrees F/C below average.

We received .52 in /1.32 cm of liquid precipitation (rain, melted snow) and 4 in/10.16 cm of solid precipitation (snow, ice, etc.).

What does this mean for us? The long answer is in the next paragraph, but the short answer is that it increased our feed costs by about .04/head/day. It also required more run-time from our tank heaters, but it's difficult to put a number on exactly how much more propane they used.

Colder temperatures raised our herd's energy requirement, thus increasing their consumption and our cost. If we use February's mean temperature of 22.3F/-5.38C and feed 5 lbs/2.27 kgs of corn per head per day with 15% waste (moisture, spillage, etc.), each cow requires 32 lbs /14.5 kgs of hay each day to meet her energy and nutrition requirements. If we use our cost of production for both corn and hay, our feed costs work out to be roughly $1.57/head/day. If we use the normal average mean temperature for February (28F/-2.2C) and feed the same amount of corn, each cow's hay requirement drops by 1 lb/.45kg per day. This would drop our feed costs to $1.53/head/day, a difference of four cents.