I wonder how the farmers are coping?

[Nicos]

I was just thinking of those poor sheep on the mountainsides unable to get to the grass.And the pregnant cows in very rural places...
How long can these animals cope without hay/fresh water???
At what depth do tractors get snowed in???
..it's not just wildlife and us is it?

[FionaH]

I think tractors can get pretty much anywhere? Most farmers I know, (umm all two of them) move their livestock to close pasture when really grim weather is forecast.

[bobleponge]

Round here there are caring and perhaps not quite so caring farmers.
I know which is which, and if I did a tour of the fields now, I would know which ones still had their beasts in the fields, and which were under cover.
Would agree with Fi, modern tractors can get just about anywhere, but I know some of the older, poorer farmers locally have 30 year old and more tractors that may struggle in really bad conditions.

[Mac]

Record breaking priced sheep in this neck of the woods so well tucked up. The farmers round here also act as the local road clearers and get subsidies from the council for doing so, so pretty good tractors...

[janeyo]

There are no farming probs round here at the mo - the manure they are putting down wafted at us all the way home from school lol

[minskey]

Not that much livestock in this area, but the pickers have been in the fields harvesting brussells well after 10pm each night.

[Jillyreeves]

Today in the village where I live the farmers have been running up and down the main and side roads in their tractors with snow ploughs fitted to the front.

[Brengirl]

That's what you do. When the going gets tough the tough pull their weight.

[Bulbaholic]

I remember the Aberdeenshire farmers being paid to help clear the rural roads, Mac. As far as I know Moray Council doesn't run such a scheme, at least, there is no evidence of it round here.

[petal]

If memory serves the cows are in warm barns, sheep brought down to lower pasture in preparation for winter, farmers are usually a canny lot and have barns full of hay/silage. Don't worry about them! - its the elderly(humans) I worry about right now, are they warm enough - how do they get basic supplies if the pavements are too icy to walk on?

[enrich100]

Don't worry too much about the farm animals although domesticated they still are able to cope in weather like this, remember a cow has a leather Jacket and the sheep have a sheepskin coat to be jealous of>
Of course most farmers will be checking on the animals but the animals can still find some food even under the snow,
sheep and cows in good condition can actually go a few days without food just using the body fat, they will also huddle together at rest and shelter by hedges to conserve heat and energy

[its hilly]

Round here the cattle are all in all winter anyway, except maybe a few beef cattle, with the farms well stocked with the silage/haylage they cut in the summer. Sheep are in fields close to the farms for easy feeding too. Most farmers have some form of muck scraper for the buildings and use that to clear (sortov) a road out to stock if needed.
As for when does it get too bad for tractors? My F-I-L can hit gateposts in his pickup dead easy, but they've got around 7" snow now and even he can get his tractor round the roads and fields

[Nicos]

[QUOTE=petal;587045- its the elderly(humans) I worry about right now, are they warm enough - how do they get basic supplies if the pavements are too icy to walk on?[/QUOTE]

Very true Petal!

[Two_Sheds]

The farmers round here also act as the local road clearers and get subsidies from the council for doing so, so pretty good tractors...

So, now all the drivers love being stuck behind a tractor

[Glutton4...]

How are the Farmers copin? Well, my local one delivered me some Hay on Monday morning, and he was still moaning for England - so they can't be too bad LOL!


(Thanks for the Hay, David!)