Science of Weather: Greenfield Village, weather impacting farm animals
Greenfield Village is living history with working farms. We spent part of the day at Firestone farm learning about the different animals and how weather impacts them.
John Forintos, Manager of Historic agriculture at Greenfield Village says, "We have a variety of animals. We have our merino sheep, our wrinkly merino sheep. So as the main type of livestock on the Firestone farm, we have shorthorn cattle like right here, Marigold. We have hogs, a variety of chickens and Percheron and Morgan horses."
Depending on the time of year, the animals get fed a little differently.
John Forintos, "Winter we are going to give them more hay. You know, help them keep their body heat going. In the summer, we provide them, you know, what they need and they'll, you know, graze throughout the day. They're not going to, you know, scarf it down at once."
In the summer months, the animals have plenty of shade to stay cool.
"We provide all of our animals with ample shade. So we have our cow lot right here. Allows the ladies to get shade when they need be. We have trees throughout our pastures so the sheep can access shade. We have a wallow for our pigs. We also, you know, change out the water daily." Says John Forintos.
Each weather element plays a role on the animals. Each animal has a certain threshold when it comes to temperatures, so the daily temperatures are monitored.
"So with the horses, especially since they are working horses, we have different levels of heat. So obviously if it's over 100 degrees, we don't use the horses at all. They have the day off. And then with the cows, a cow's ideal temperature for, you know, a nice relaxing day is going to be between 40 and 60 degrees. But on days like that, it's a little bit hotter and humid they'll just be a little bit more laid back and lay in their pasture. And we will make sure they have all the water and everything they need." Adds John Forintos.
Now that's the Science of Weather. In Dearborn, Meteorologist Kylee Miller.
