Farm & Barn · email alerts for New England, New York and Pennsylvania
Blanket or no blanket tonight? Know by early afternoon.
One email on the afternoons the call changes: tonight’s low, wind chill and any rain or ice at your barn, with blanket weights for clipped and unclipped horses. Same call as last night? No email.
We email only when something changes at your place: at most 3 alert emails a day, alerts that come together share one email, and nothing from 9 pm to 6 am. Routine alerts wait for one 6 am morning email. Turn off any alert you don't want. 30-day money-back guarantee.
The blanket call: tonight’s low, wind chill, rain or ice at your barn, with the blanket weights for clipped and unclipped horses (September to May, on the afternoons the call changes)
Hot, humid days for animals, by the livestock temperature-humidity index (May to September), with its own switch
Hay prices every week from the two Lancaster County, PA hay auctions (New Holland on Monday, Leola on Wednesday), the nearest USDA-reported hay sales: grass, timothy, orchard grass, alfalfa and straw, per ton, in your Sunday email
Hay windows: three or more dry days in a row (May to September), when growers near you can cut and bale, and a note if rain moves in
Also in Farm & Barn
Switch off what you don’t keep.
The coop call (October to March): an afternoon email before single-digit nights and bitter wind chills, on the fall’s first hard freeze (time for a heated waterer), and before sudden cold snaps
For bees: flight days after a cold spell, calm days to check stores, swarm season, the main spring honey flow and the fall’s last week for syrup
County fairs in Massachusetts and New York only, two weeks before they open
Livestock prices from USDA-reported sale barns within 100 miles (Pennsylvania and New York), in your Sunday email
Switch off any you don't want. Every alert comes by email.
Everything$79 a year
Farm & Barn plus the other five packs (home and garden, hunting, fishing, foraging, wildlife), a second place like a camp or a second barn, and a copy of each alert to a second email.
National Weather Service hourly forecasts for your barn
USDA AMS Market News reports from Pennsylvania and New York livestock and hay auctions
Fair dates from the Massachusetts and New York State fair associations
Tennessee Farmers Cooperative’s blanketing chart and the Livestock Weather Safety Index
Public data, checked around the clock, matched to your place. When a source changes, you get one plain email that says what changed and what it means for you.
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If it isn't worth it to you, reply to any of our emails within 30 days for a full refund. No questions asked.
Sample alerts from real days
Backroad AlmanacSat, Nov 8, 2025 · 1:05 pm
Blanket call tonight: low 36°F, feels like 30°F, rain 2 am–6 am
Tonight: 6 pm 46°F, 8 pm 47°F, 10 pm 45°F, 12 am 42°F, 2 am 39°F rain, 4 am 36°F, 6 am 36°F.
Unclipped horse: light weight (0–100 g). Body-clipped: medium weight (150–250 g). A waterproof turnout matters tonight. Last night’s call: light. We email only on afternoons the call changes.
Per National Weather Service Albany, NY forecast; blanket weights from Tennessee Farmers Cooperative’s chart.
Sample alert: a real November night near Albany, NY, rebuilt from the airport’s weather records.
Three more sample alerts from this pack
Backroad AlmanacSun, Dec 28, 2025 · 1:05 pm
Lighter blanket tonight: low 23°F, feels like 16°F, freezing rain 8 pm–2 am
Tonight: 6 pm 21°F, 8 pm 25°F ice, 10 pm 30°F ice, 12 am 32°F ice, 2 am 33°F, 4 am 34°F rain, 6 am 35°F rain.
Unclipped horse: medium weight (150–250 g). Body-clipped: heavy weight (300–400 g). Freezing rain or sleet is in tonight’s forecast, so a waterproof turnout matters. Last night’s call: heavy. We email only on afternoons the call changes.
Per National Weather Service Albany, NY forecast; blanket weights from Tennessee Farmers Cooperative’s chart.
Sample alert: a real December night of freezing rain near Albany, NY, rebuilt from the airport’s weather records.
Backroad AlmanacMon, Jul 28, 2025 · 6:00 am
Hot, humid Tuesday for animals: temperature-humidity index 84 (emergency)
On the Livestock Weather Safety Index, 79–83 is danger and 84 or more is emergency. Shade, cool fresh water and early-morning chores help, and for hens a breeze through the coop.
Per National Weather Service Boston/Norton forecast.
Sample alert: a real July day near Hamilton, MA, rebuilt from Beverly airport’s weather records.
Backroad AlmanacThu, Jul 31, 2025 · 6:00 am
Hay window: dry Sat–Tue
4 dry days in a row in the forecast: rain chances 13% or less each day.
Per National Weather Service Boston/Norton forecast.
Sample alert: a real summer week near Hamilton, MA, rebuilt from Beverly airport’s weather records and the Weather Service’s model forecast.
How many emails? A real year
A Farm & Barn reader at a barn near Cazenovia, NY would have gotten 78 emails from January through October 2026, about 2 a week: 59 from Farm & Barn (mostly barn weather & blanket call, hay windows and county fairs) and 19 with only free alerts (waterfalls running and meteor showers & clear skies).
Farm & Barn alertsFree alerts only
Emails each month, 2026
Month
Emails
Free alerts only
January
12
2
February
12
0
March
16
5
April
10
3
May
4
2
June
4
1
July
8
2
August
6
3
September
4
0
October
2
1
We ran that year's real weather and agency records through the same rules that send our alerts. Where an alert reads a forecast, the weather that actually came stood in for it. The busiest month was March, with 16. You can turn off any alert you don't want. This reader bought from this page, so the chicken and bee alerts started off (you can turn them on).
Common questions
At what temperature should I blanket my horse?
The chart our blanket call uses, from Tennessee Farmers Cooperative: a low of 50°F or above, no blanket. In the 30s and 40s, a light blanket (0–100 g) for an unclipped horse and a medium (150–250 g) for a body-clipped one. From 10 to 29°F, medium unclipped and heavy (300–400 g) clipped. Below 10°F, heavy unclipped and extra heavy or a double blanket clipped.
Does rain or wind change the blanket call?
Rain, snow or freezing rain likely tonight goes in the email with the hours it should fall, and the note that a waterproof turnout matters. When the wind makes it feel 3°F or more colder than the low, the email gives that too.
How often will the blanket call email me?
Only on afternoons the weight changes, or rain or ice comes into tonight’s forecast, September through May, between 1 and 3 pm. A low within 3°F of a line on the chart keeps last night’s weight. A barn near Cazenovia, NY would have gotten 44 calls from January to October 2026.
When is it too hot for horses?
We use the Livestock Weather Safety Index: 79 to 83 is danger and 84 or more is emergency. From May to September we email before the first day of a run at 79 or more, with reminders about shade, cool water and early chores.
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