Is your old man rolling a cigarette - or a firecracker?
He looks to be marking an ear tag.
I've only felt one frozen set of ears so far this spring and that was on the first calf out of our 3 year olds who was the first to calve last year as a heifer. Not sure how much good it does but we don't ear tag when it's cold.
And they had all kinds of straw and windbreak and a calf shelter but oh no, we'll rough it....