MINNESOTA, USA — Owatonna has a to-do list after this week’s blizzard.
“I've never seen it this bad here on this side of the building in 13 years,” said Country Inn & Suite’s maintenance man, Nick Buttera. “You can see it’s four feet high here".
The hotel was buried in both snow and check-ins, with only one room available by Wednesday night. Buttera is happy the snow and wind are letting up.
“I’m thankful for that, yeah,” said Buttera.
Owatonna is digging itself out. But for some, keeping up with the bad weather is a matter of life or death.
Jeanne Pichner and her husband raise cattle.
“That one was born last night,” said Pichner, pointing to a mother and her calf in the corner of the bar.
The weather adds an extra set of challenges for calving season.
“If the calf was born out in this it wouldn’t survive,” she said.
Pichner and her husband put expecting cows in the barn when it’s cold, so babies don’t freeze.
In subzero temperatures, some can’t survive in the barns.
Little Wally is a calf that’s only a month old. Pichner brought her and a sibling inside to their basement to beat the cold.
“We started rubbing them with towels and using hair dryers to stimulate them,” she said. “Wally was the only one to survive out of triplets. It’s heartbreaking.”
With more cold weather on its way tonight, Jeanne and her family have a longer chore list than most.
But the more they cross off, the better chances the little ones have to survive.
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