Rain is usually a good thing, if it comes in normal amounts and at regular intervals. It’s mighty hard to grow grass without it and it’s one of the main reasons I’m here farming in Kentucky, so I’ve learned to work around it, and in it as well. But most chores are best done when it’s not raining, which isn’t always possible but is sure worth a little planning and time management to try and make happen. I don’t particularly care to feed hay in the rain, it just gets wet and trampled and wasted, and shoveling soggy horse poop is about as much fun as it sounds. So I’m pretty keen on figuring out when it’s going to rain.
In addition to just trying to time daily chore runs in between rain showers, I also spend a good bit of time and thought planning out the week’s activities around rain events and temperature fluctuations, for the same reasons. For example, tractor work on the hill – laying gravel on muddy spots, staging hay rolls for feeding, loading and spreading manure on the pastures – needs to be done when it’s as dry as possible, and usually takes precedence over other tasks. Everything I do has to be prioritized and those priorities change as the weather changes. If they didn’t, I’d get caught battling weather and slogging through mud doing critical stuff, which isn’t any fun.
It helps to have an Internet connection, some folks don’t, they just watch the weather forecast on the evening news, compare notes with neighbors, and get by just fine. Me, I need more info, and I like it updated often. This little laptop sits on the table in the middle of the house right where I walk through a hundred times a day, with a browser open and The Weather Channel open at all times, refreshed every time I pass by.
Not only does the hourly forecast help me predict best times and temps for doing stuff, but their little radar app called Weather in Motion is really helpful for tracking storms on their way through. Really helpful. It’ll show the past couple of hours of cloud and precipitation activity, and then predict the next couple of hours, which is not always 100% accurate but it sure is close. Sure is better than not having any idea whether those dark clouds massing on the western horizon are heading over the farm with buckets of rain, or will veer north instead. Sure is better than heading up the hill on the gator with a couple of dogs to do chores and getting caught in a downpour. I can’t count the number of times I’ve used this wonderful technology to duck the worst of the weather, it really is a powerful tool.
This morning I’m looking at the hourly forecast and it’s telling me to expect scattered thunderstorms beginning at 8 am. I usually head up before it gets light, starting around 6:45 (in a few minutes, I better get dressed!) and spend about 2 hours feeding and watering and caretaking the horses. The radar shows a front moving southwest to northeast, on a track to the north – nothing dead on, just a possibility of getting something from the lower edge of it, so that’s good to know. I’ll wear rain gear anyway and keep an eye on the sky but won’t be wondering if it’s going to dump rain, it should just be cloudy and feel stormy but stay dry. Dry is good, especially for the critters that eat hay, and the farmer gal that brings it to them.
Thistledog's Farm 
Boy howdy, you have hit the nail on the head. It rains almost daily here if the weather is normal. The project list is always changing because of the weather. I ask myself on a dry day if I want to do some of tomorrow’s tasks in the wet or dry and usually double up some tasks. Others I can’t change, like milking the cow, that happens at the same times each day no matter what the temperature or rain status.
This is actually the first year ever, that we are strictly feeding in the barn, and I have to say, I kind of like it. The cows have access to a pasture, and can come and go as they please. I couldn’t procure enough bedding to confine them for the entire winter feeding time, and due to the drought all summer, hay yields were down and grazing ended much sooner in the fall than past years.
We have snow, which is a little weird for us in December.
Too much rain here in Georgia and more on the way, we had to run the Ac all week. Crazy weather for December.
No kidding! Y’all are soaked, it’s hard to believe that much rain can fall in one place.
Hello – really enjoy getting up to date on your farm and animal status 🐄 It is like reading a novel; you work hard on your “Farm Status” update as hard as your physical work. Always include looking at the weather for Kentucky – while keeping up to date on the weather for NY and Illinois. We are getting lots of rain; but, the air is bone chilling. Keep well and happy. 😎