How to Prepare Your Homestead for Winter: A New England Fall Checklist 🪾

Here in New England, getting the homestead ready for winter starts long before the first real snowstorm.

After enough years of doing this, we've learned that winter preparation isn't really about one big project. It's a whole bunch of little things that become very big problems if you wait until it's freezing outside to deal with them.

Animals need to be sorted out. Hay needs to be stocked. Water has to be figured out. Coops and barns need to be cleaned. Fencing needs another look. And yes, you should probably make sure the generator actually starts.

Ask us how we learned that last one.

Decide Which Animals You're Keeping Through Winter

One of the first things we do in the fall is start decreasing the number of animals we're carrying through the winter.

Some animals will be sent for processing before winter sets in. This isn't always the fun part of homesteading, but it is part of planning responsibly for the months ahead.

Every animal you keep through a New England winter means more:

Winter makes almost every basic farm chore harder, so fall is the time to look realistically at your numbers and decide what makes sense to overwinter.

Stock Up on Hay Before You Need It

Hay is one thing we do not want to be scrambling for in the middle of winter.

Before the cold weather really settles in, we make sure we have enough hay stocked and stored somewhere dry. Once snow and ice arrive, everything from deliveries to moving bales around the farm becomes more difficult.

And animals tend to need plenty of good feed through cold weather.

I'd much rather look at a stack of hay in the fall and think we bought too much than be trying to track it down during a February storm.

Water Is the Hardest Part of Winter

If you ask me what the biggest pain in the ass is during winter on a homestead, my answer is easy:

Water.

Frozen water buckets. Frozen hoses. Ice that has to be broken out. Carrying water when you'd really rather not be carrying water. Then doing it all again because it froze.

Animals still need constant access to fresh water no matter how cold it gets.

We use heated water buckets wherever we can, and fall is when we make sure they're working and that the places we're using them have safe access to power.

Have backups, too.

A heated bucket that decides to quit during a cold snap can turn into a problem pretty quickly.

Get the Coops Ready Before the Cold Arrives

Before winter we start protecting the chicken coops from the worst of the wind and blowing snow.

We use plastic to help block exposed areas and keep the winter weather from blowing straight through the coop.

But there's an important difference between blocking drafts and sealing a coop completely shut.

Chickens create a surprising amount of moisture, especially from their manure and breathing. The coop still needs ventilation so that moisture and ammonia can escape.

The goal is a coop that's protected from direct winter wind and precipitation while still allowing fresh air to move through above the birds.

Deep Clean Everything Now

This is a big one for us.

Before winter, we make sure the animal houses, coops and barns get a really good cleaning.

Why?

Because once winter arrives, we're not tearing everything apart and doing full clean-outs constantly.

We use a deep litter method through the winter, adding clean bedding as needed and managing it throughout the season rather than completely stripping everything out over and over again.

That means we want to start winter with everything as clean and dry as possible.

Then start winter fresh.

Deep bedding can work well through the cold months, but you still have to keep an eye on moisture and ammonia. If a building smells strongly of ammonia or becomes damp, something needs to change.

Goats Handle Winter Better Than You Might Think

Our goats actually deal pretty well with snow and cold weather.

We worry much more about making sure they have a dry place out of the wind, plenty of bedding, hay and unfrozen water than trying to make their barn feel like a heated house.

Healthy livestock still need the basics all winter: good feed, clean water, dry bedding, shelter from bad weather and adequate ventilation.

Snow itself doesn't necessarily bother the goats nearly as much as wet, windy conditions can.

Check Every Fence Before the Ground Freezes

Fall is also when we walk the fencing.

Fix questionable sections now.

Trying to repair fencing when the ground is frozen solid, there's a foot of snow on the ground and an animal has discovered the weak spot is not how you want to spend a winter morning.

And if you've ever owned pigs, you already know they seem to have a supernatural ability to find whichever part of the fence you forgot to check.

Make Sure the Generator Actually Works

Don't just look at the generator sitting there and think:

Yep, we've got a generator.

Start it.

Seriously.

Check it before winter.

Make sure it runs properly. Make sure you know what it can power. Check your fuel situation and anything else you need to safely use it during an outage.

Because we learned this one the stupid way.

We had a generator.

Then when we actually needed it...

It wouldn't start.

That's exactly the kind of problem you want to discover on a nice fall afternoon instead of during a snowstorm when the power is already out.

If you're using a portable generator during an outage, always operate it outdoors and well away from the house, doors, windows and vents.

Winter Is Easier When Fall Is Busy

There is no way to make winter completely easy on a New England homestead.

Water will freeze.

Snow will pile up.

Something will inevitably stop working at the worst possible time.

And there will probably be at least one morning when you look outside and seriously question every life decision that led to owning farm animals.

But almost everything is easier when we do the work ahead of time.

That's really what our fall winter-prep routine has become after years of homesteading: try to solve October problems in October so they don't become February emergencies.

Because February has enough problems of its own.