How to Prepare Your Farm for a Heatwave

Is a heatwave coming to your neck of the woods? We’re facing 100°+ temps for the next week which is highly unusual this time of year so we’re doing a little prep work to protect the animals and garden from overheating.

Keeping Animals Cool
Making sure everyone has a shady spot to rest is super important in the heat. We had an extra roll of garden fabric that works perfectly for this.

If you have pigs you might consider filling up a mud hole for them. It may seem like pigs just enjoy being dirty but the mud actually serves a purpose! It helps keep them cool and acts like sunscreen for their skin.

Cold Water and Frozen Treats
Most of our animals have drinking fountain style waterers so that makes it easy. Another option is freezing gallon jugs of water to use as giant ice cubes and rotating them throughout the day to keep waters cool.

If you have chickens this is the perfect time to clean out your freezer of any freezer burnt fruits or veggies. I always seem to have a bag of tomatoes I forgot to can or something.

Prep the Garden
Extra garden fabric makes the perfect shade cloth for plants that can’t handle the heat. Mulching is always a good idea because it keeps the roots cool and helps maintain moisture in the soil. We had some extra bark from mulching our flower beds so I used it to cover the soil in the wick tubs.

Doing these things will help lighten the impacts of the heat on your homestead, keeping your animals and plants happy!