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Author Topic: This wet weather  (Read 4431 times)

Remy

  • Joined Dec 2011
This wet weather
« on: November 26, 2012, 07:38:21 pm »
How is your land standing up to all this rain and what do you do if your fields are particularly wet  ??? . I have five lots of sheep in different fields/paddocks and at the moment don't have anywhere extra to put them - two ram lambs had to moved out of one paddock as it was literally wet mud!  Two lots are in fairly well drained fields but the other two are in fields which are fast becoming quagmires.  I have never known our land to be so wet without some period of drying out.  At the moment they are looking okay but some in the wettest paddock have problems with mud compacting in their feet.  I'm sure I'm not the only one with the problem of saturated land as when I drove down to Herts yesterday the amount of flooding on fields wither side of the M1 was unbelievable  :o
1 horse, 2 ponies, 4 dogs, 2 Kune Kunes, a variety of sheep

Raine

  • Joined May 2011
  • Lincoln
Re: This wet weather
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2012, 08:44:01 pm »
 :wave:


I have just spent two hours trying to herd five nervous Balwen sheep from our lake... I mean field into a dry field.  :sheep:   :sheep:   :sheep:   :sheep:   :sheep:


Our smallholding has 2 one acre fields, either side of a beck.  One is high up and stays dry, the other is low down and has a natural spring feeding the water bucket.   Guess which field the sheep were in  :roflanim:


We tried digging our ditch out a little more, in the dark, whilst it was raining.  This resulted in me flat on my face in the mud.  :roflanim:  We had already dug out the drainage ditch in our low field yesterday, hoping for less rain (vain hope it was), but have now realized that our neighbors field (which was bought to build houses on) is so flooded the water is flowing through the hedge into ours!  We realized that having only a small area un-flooded, moving the sheep was a priority.

As this was our first time moving them, we tried sorting out a fence to herd them round.  That didn't work as the bloody thing wouldn't stay up ??? 


Whilst I was doing that, the sheep decided to wander out of the gate, but as soon as we moved anything, they legged it back in  ::) .  So we laid a trail of feed in buckets.  Eventually,  :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: :sheep:  sheep were in the high field and  :sheep:  still in the lake!  This meant one of us had to stay in the top field to prevent the ram running back (and the other 3 ewes following him) and the other trying to chase the sheep out of the lake up our drive to the top field.  With much wetness later, we finally managed to close the gate and come in for a cuppa!


Fed up with the  :raining:








Small Farmer

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • Bedfordshire
Re: This wet weather
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2012, 11:53:27 pm »
So job done, but painfully and uncomfortably. Deepest sympathy and let's all hope for a dry spell
Being certain just means you haven't got all the facts

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: This wet weather
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2012, 09:50:14 am »
Yes, it's as wet as we've seen it.  It's horrid for the sheep. 

Wool is warm even when wet, yes, and wool can absorb an incredible amount of water before the sheep's skin gets wet - but eventually even a wool-covered sheep starts to suffer from the wet, especially when it's cold.

If there's some shelter - trees or similar - you can give them access to, that would help them.

If there's no shelter and there are only a few you can give them some hay to eat on the ground against a sheltered wall or hedge - they'll eat some then use the rest to give them a slightly drier bit of ground to lie on.  Or you could use straw if you have some to spare.  I guess wood or bark chips would also give them a bit of drier ground to lie on, temporarily.

If you haven't any walls or hedges you could consider making a temporary sheltering wall with pallets against the fence.

The other thing which is not always a good idea but might help just now is a roof - an arc or similar - where the rain can't fall, so that the ground is drier underneath. 

Up here we're supposed to be getting two dry days now - cold but dry - thank goodness.  It was starting to get difficult to get across some of the fields, whether on the quad or on foot...
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Blackbird

  • Joined Jul 2012
Re: This wet weather
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2012, 12:19:50 pm »
Our land slopes down towards a hedgerow, where our mobile field shelter is. There is now a river running down the field through the shelter and we've lost the botom layer of hay stored in one half. I've moved the sheep up to the top paddock where the stable block is and let them wander onto the stable yard  where I've put some hay so their feet can get some drier conditions. They tuck themselves against the stables on the lee side for shelter. As soon as it stops  :raining: and the shelter dries out and the land drains out a bit, I'll move them back down. We are very lucky to have just a few sheep and some options for where to put them. Warmest sympathy to all those struggling so hard with their livestock in this miserable weather.  I believe we are going to get  :cold: next.
Where are we going - and why am I in this handcart?

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: This wet weather
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2012, 12:33:21 pm »
Sorry to hear you've lost some of your hay, Blackbird.  That's a b*M*r.  But at least you and the sheep are ok.

Sheep can stand a lot of cold, it's the constant wet that tires them.  Us too!  It's easier to wrap up against cold than stay dry against the wet, I think - at least when you have to be outside a lot, it is.  So dry and cold is defintely preferable to wet, in my book.   :fc: it now stays dry for a while.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

quiltycats

  • Joined Nov 2012
  • Ooop North
Re: This wet weather
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2012, 12:43:56 pm »
9 times out of 10 when the flooding is this bad the road/track down to the sheep gets washed out, in that chunks of it vanish off down to York ...lol....touch wood so far this year its remained passable.
 :gloomy:

Thought I saw blue sky earlier but it was only an hallucination  :'(

luckylady

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • Yorkshire
Re: This wet weather
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2012, 02:08:27 pm »
9 times out of 10 when the flooding is this bad the road/track down to the sheep gets washed out, in that chunks of it vanish off down to York.
Thought I saw blue sky earlier but it was only an hallucination  :'(
You weren't hallucinating Quilty and I think some of our hardcore from the field bridge is heading its way to York too!
Ssshhhhhhhh, bright sunshine  :sunshine: and blue skies here near York at the moment but we had  :raining: earlier today.  Never before have we had the orchard flooded like it is now.  Sheepies are becoming quite athletic over their water jumps!  Have been fetching them in to a stable overnight to make sure their feet stay ok.  They'll be wanting a cuppa tea in bed next!  :roflanim:
 
« Last Edit: November 28, 2012, 07:19:43 pm by luckylady »
Doing that swan thing - cool and calm on the surface but paddling like crazy beneath.

woollyval

  • Joined Feb 2008
  • Near Bodmin, Cornwall
    • Val Grainger
    • Facebook
Re: This wet weather
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2012, 08:59:31 pm »
We have had it bad here in Somerset too....moved the rest of the Ouessant flock in the pitch darkness tonight as their 3 acres was almost a lake! Never seen anything like whats happening....now have too many sheep in one place but at least its dry....well drier, and I have plenty of haylage....
www.valgrainger.co.uk

Overall winner of the Devon Environmental Business Awards 2009

colliewoman

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Pilton
  • Caution! May spontaneously talk rabbits!
Re: This wet weather
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2012, 09:21:08 pm »
We have had it bad here in Somerset too....moved the rest of the Ouessant flock in the pitch darkness tonight as their 3 acres was almost a lake! Never seen anything like whats happening....now have too many sheep in one place but at least its dry....well drier, and I have plenty of haylage....


I have 11 (was 15 before doomsday for 4 of them) on half an acre :o :o  But what do you do?? The field they were going to go on is underwater, the one half of them were on is underwater.
Getting thought the winter feed at a rate of knots but at least they aren't in standing water :fc:
Got 3.5 acres on the high side of the moors we just got the use of. Went today and there is one tiny puddle and NO MUD!!!!!! Lots of grass too :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:  Moving them as soon as I can get the trailer near them, or them near the trailer :fc: :fc:
We'll turn the dust to soil,
Turn the rust of hate back into passion.
It's not water into wine
But it's here, and it's happening.
Massive,
but passive.


Bring the peace back

 

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