Spring Ahead

[Psychicwolf]

The only ones severely affected at my homestead were the goats. They were still asleep in the barn when I went down to feed the first few days. Now they are on schedule and I don't get the "look of death" for disturbing them at what (per the clock) is their breakfast hour.

[Escargot]

really Funny PsyWolf! And interesting, I'm wondering if anyone else notices a change in their pets behavior?
Do you suppose it's because of an internal clock thing? Or because it's still dark out? Were you feeding them when it was still dark out or at dawn/daylight before the DST change?
And as it naturally gets lighter earlier and earlier in to summer, do they expect to get fed earlier when it first gets light?
On the Naval Observatory site it shows that the sun rises here (Denver) in June around 4:30am. So the twilight must be about 4-4:15am. With DST add an hour; and that would be 5-5:15am. I shall assume it's similar where ever you are, so if they are restless/hungry at 5:15am DST- then without DST they would be restless/hungry at 4:15am.
And likewise in the winter do you feed them early when it's still naturally dark or after daylight happens?
It's snowing here today. Started in the middle of the night. Mostly wet streets, but tonight at rush hour it will still be daylight until about 7:15-7:30pm. That will aid drivers and help hold off any street freeze. Otherwise it would be dark at 6:15-6:30pm. Still better than in the 4 o'clock hour like in November, December and January, but 7 is better than 6pm, it can get cold here still. I figure if you have driving trouble it's better to have some extra daylight to get help at night than in the morning. If you have to walk for help in the morning, at least you know the sun will be up soon. At night all you have to look forward to is dark all night.

[Live365]

Here ya go, Escargot. But it's just one "study", and there are a lot of criticisms of it in the comments at the bottom.
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http://www.physorg.com/news187946326.html

Study: Daylight saving time a waste of energy
March 16, 2010 by Lin Edwards

The US state of Indiana has 92 counties, but until 2006 only 15 of them adjusted their clocks for daylight saving time, with the remainder keeping standard time all year, at least partly to appease farmers who did not want the change. Then in 2006 the Indiana Legislature decided the entire state should adopt daylight saving time, beginning that spring.

This unique situation enabled professor of economics Matthew Kotchen and his PhD student Laura E. Grant, both from the University of California at Santa Barbara, to study how the adoption of daylight saving affected energy use.

The result of the study showed that electricity use went up in the counties adopting daylight saving time in 2006, costing $8.6 million more in household electricity bills. The conclusion reached by Kotchen and Grant was that while the lighting costs were reduced in the afternoons by daylight saving, the greater heating costs in the mornings, and more use of air-conditioners on hot afternoons more than offset these savings.

[Psychicwolf]

really Funny PsyWolf! And interesting, I'm wondering if anyone else notices a change in their pets behavior?
Do you suppose it's because of an internal clock thing? Or because it's still dark out? Were you feeding them when it was still dark out or at dawn/daylight before the DST change?
And as it naturally gets lighter earlier and earlier in to summer, do they expect to get fed earlier when it first gets light?

I usually feed them at first light during the heart of winter so they don't have to deal with the racoons, possums, deer and the elk herd that hangs out down here in winter. Even though the goatie girls are fenced, the deer will leap the fence and the elk will push down a fence. If it's daylight the elk tend to stay down by the river (the pasture/vegetation is lush down there) and that is where I dump their hay, but the herd gone now. I went down to feed by human (clock) time because I had other things to do that day, hence it was "earlier" than the girls prefer.

OT, but last summer I stuck a couple of cheapy solar lights in the ground down by the girl's barn and on the path down to the barn. One night this fall I heard all this clanging and banging and went to the window with the binoculars. A group of racoons had removed two of the lights and were carting them off into the trees. I don't know if they wanted to light their dens, use them as sceptres for a Lodge meeting or what!? Another disappeared about 2 months later, but they were more stealthy this time and I was unaware of the removal until I went down to the barn in the AM.

[Joolz]

OT, but last summer I stuck a couple of cheapy solar lights in the ground down by the girl's barn and on the path down to the barn. One night this fall I heard all this clanging and banging and went to the window with the binoculars. A group of racoons had removed two of the lights and were carting them off into the trees. I don't know if they wanted to light their dens, use them as sceptres for a Lodge meeting or what!? Another disappeared about 2 months later, but they were more stealthy this time and I was unaware of the removal until I went down to the barn in the AM.

Ha! That actually made me LOL! Thanks for the story, PW.

[Escargot]

Really so funny a definite triple funny! Evolution in action.