MABTON -- This cold doesn't scare Fausto Uriostegui, no sir.

Watch his compact body hurry across the 4-acre field to feed Rojita, his favorite calf, while his wife, Petra, shivers near a fire pit. See how the 68-year-old pours boiling water into a bucket so his countless chickens -- they'll be dinner soon, better treat 'em right -- can drink something warm.

Back in Mexico, he learned about farming and taking good care of animals. But he never knew a thing about snow or biting winds, the kind that do scare his wife just a little.

Some things he had to learn the hard way.

Uriostegui didn't even count the bodies of all those baby goats that fell over last winter and never did get back up. Four dozen? Five dozen?

"To tell you the real truth, I never did find out what killed them," he admitted one morning, closing his bright brown eyes for a quiet moment before smiling again. "I sold the ones that did live right after. Goats are too delicate for this kind of cold."

Common sense tells us animals have greater resistance than humans to the elements. But winters here in the Yakima Valley can get ugly, and this one promises to stay frigid. And with money seemingly tighter by the day, surviving can be a challenge for livestock owners of any experience.

Those tiny bodies that piled up in this Mabton front yard last winter are one reminder.

Still, there are ways to keep animals warm without going broke.

"I get a ton of calls from people," said Frank Hendrix, an educator at the Washington State University Yakima County extension. Some 40,000 people in Yakima County own livestock -- horses, cows, chickens, pigs or other animals -- on 2- to 20-acre plots.

A lot of them, he knows, aren't prepared to make it through a winter like this.

"I sometimes see thinner animals because they're not being fed enough," said Ernie Munck, a large animal veterinarian based in Prosser.

Munck advises feeding animals more fiber to keep them occupied and warm. Hay doesn't have to be expensive -- just plentiful. The average cow needs at least a ton of hay each winter season.

"When a cow eats hay or straw, that goes into the rumen -- which is like a great big fermentation vat that produces a lot of internal heat," Munck said. Horses ferment fiber similarly in their large intestines.

Older animals especially need to drink warm -- not just thawed -- water in the winter. If it's too cold they won't want to drink and can dehydrate and get colic.

Uriostegui, for example, gives all his animals buckets of hot water, boiled outside alongside the cinnamon-flavored coffee he makes himself each morning.

"It warms them up," Munck said. "It's like you and I drinking a hot tea or coffee.

Those with young calves should be sure to adjust the milk-feeding rate, Munck added. Calves tend to lose weight and sometimes starve if the owner hasn't increased the milk quantity.

He suggested putting down clean, dry straw for bedding. The straw helps insulate animals from the cold ground while protecting their lower extremities, which are covered by less fur or hair. Other options are covering fences with plywood to serve as windbreaks and using infrared heaters or heat lamps for young stocks.

But just as homeowners should be extra careful to avoid overloading the wiring with space heaters, animal owners should be mindful of how they use electricity to warm their animals. On Thursday, a Prosser chicken coop burned down after a heat lamp was knocked over, investigators believe.

Five chickens reportedly died in the flames.

Melissa Sanchez can be reached at 577-7675 or msanchez@yakimaherald.com.