The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Victorian Farmer on March 27, 2013, 10:02:08 am
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Thousands of puffins may be dead' in North Sea storms Isle of Man farmer: Sheep deaths in snow are a disaster Farmers say their livelihoods are at risk as severe weather across parts of the UK claims the lives of thousands of sheep and cattle - including newborn lambs.The late snow has hit during lambing season, with many animals getting buried.
]Daniel Creer, 24, is a sheep farmer in the Isle of Man.He's trying to rescue some of his five thousand sheep from drifts nearly four metres high."Since Friday we've been spending all day digging sheep out."The ewes on his land have not started giving birth yet but many are pregnant and stranded on the hillside. The cold also means there is little for the sheep to eat."This afternoon I'm going to move sheep off some of the fields on the west of the island because all the grass is buried by the snow," said Daniel "There's no feed in the fields. Those sheep up there have taken some horrendous losses."The ]National (http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/21945492#) Farmers' Union says some people risk losing an entire year's income due to the unusually cold weather. ]Daniel said he expecting to have already lost up £2,500 in a short period of time. "The financial strain is going to be extreme," he added "It's extremely depressing and heartbreaking. It's not something you can really describe - they're not just your livelihoods, they're animals you take quite a bit of pride in. And there's absolutely nothing you can do.]Fears over sheep deaths in snow in north Wales Heavy snow has trapped sheep across north Wales, leading to fears hundreds could die in the freezing conditions. The Farmers' Union of Wales (FAW) said farmers had their work cut out keeping the sheep they could still see alive, let alone trying to rescue others buried under drifts of 15ft One hill farmer in Conwy said his sheepdog had helped him find and rescue 70 ewes in the past two days.
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I saw some of the farmers on the news last night trying to dig their ewes out. Its heartbreaking.
I keep looking for a chink in the weather but so far nothing.
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Even if they do manage to get them out I should think they are quite likely to have a lot of trouble with ewe developing Twin Lamb :(
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This is so sad anmust be heartbreaking from both a financial and a caring point of view. I heard a snippet of Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 and most people (townies I expect) were saying that it was the farmers fault and they had been lazy by not getting their sheep in. :rant: I'm afraid that Mr Vine allowed this to continue with a very biased show 'against' the farming community. Made me so angry :rant: I had to switch off in the end.
Donna
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I have made some points to a similar ' bad farmers' themes discussion by some posters on a horsey forum.
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I wonder whether heat seeking cameras that they have on the police/rescue helicopters would be able to find them, or at least some of them. And some helicopter drops of bales or feed blocks to those sheep that are stranded out on the hills.
With all the technology we have nowadays it's stupid that farmers are "left out in the cold" without help.
If it was horses stuck then I bet £££'s would be spent trying to save them. And the RSPCA would be all over it splashing their cash. Sickening really.
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We are struggling badly enough just on a 40acre holding in the hills on the Welsh borders, can't imagine what its like trying to get about a large farm too animals.
We have been snowed in since last week, as yet no attempt has been made to snow plough our lane (council road) Keep being told tomorrow they will be out but unlikely now that they will get a snowplough through it. Spent most of the day yesterday trying to find out what was happening, and being told they would start on the lane today only to find a message on our answer phone this morning to say they won't be but hope to start tomorrow sometime. We have had terrible snow here earlier in the winter and it has always been cleared every day, so hadn't expected to be in this situation. Even if we could get animals through the snow in we wouldn't be able to get any bedding to the farm for them. Our lambs are having to cope with the deep snow and bitter cold winds unfortunately. OH doing his best to keep the ewes well fed, we have now run out of ewe feed, fortunately one of our fields has an access down to a lane that has been cleared, this is really steep and not accessible with a tractor of 4x4. Neighbour has dropped a couple of sacks of feed at the gateway and then OH has to load up a back pack and trudge up a very steep bank of snow over a foot deep, and then the rest of the land is all up hill from there. I am recovering from a broken leg so no help out on the farm. Probably have enough hay to get us through the bank holiday but after that I don't know how we will get hay out to the animals. Can get so far with the hay on the tractor but then it all has to be carried out through deep snow drifts. As we have some horses too maybe we can call the RSPCA to arrange a helicopter hay drop after easter if the lane is still blocked?? We have hay stored on a neighbouring farm but can't get it up to our yard or to the animals, we also collect round bale straw from the neighbour when we need it so will soon be out of bedding for the pet lambs and few ewes and lambs still in the barns. Certainly the hardest struggle on this farm, just hope the lambs in the fields can cope until some warmer weather eventually arrives. Fortunately none younger than 21/2 weeks out, and so far proving hardy although OH says it is just as well I can't manage to get out and see them :(
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It's all so sad.
Luckily we don't start lambing round here untill into April, neighbour who rents part of our land bought some sheep in and one lambed on Saturday it's still out there with 2 lambs, I would have thought he'd have put them in his barn for a couple of days to 'get going'.
The winds have nearly cleared a lot of the fields, but it's created the big drifts that cause the problems.
My lambs have a field shelter, it's bad enough getting through the drifts to feed them, I really feel for the folk who have lots out on the hills. Sounds like weather is to stay like this till 2nd week in April.
Good Luck to all with their stock.
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Only once have I had to dig out my ewes and I only had a small flock. Its hard working in the cold. Now when we know bad weather is coming all animals are down near the building so they can be brought in if need be. We expect bad snow every winter so are well used to this and plan for it. Farmers with large flocks cannot always do this and no one should be saying its their fault. Most of the farmers around me have gone through their lambing but they lamb inside. I was talking to David the other day ( famer near me ) his ewe and lambs have been out for a few weeks. His worry now is there is no grass and he is running out of hay. He needs warm weather fast to get grass or he could be strugglng to feed his flock.
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I saw on one news item the sheep and lambs were in their Winter housing (a good sized barn) when the weight of the snow caved the roof in. Again, many losses.
It's all very sad and my heart goes out to them.
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Only had about 18cm of snow but it's stayed put. We have only 15 twinners and 8 singles to go but normally the earliest ones would all be out by now. Planning to spend Friday shifting sheep around to allow smallest lambs to stay in shed for longer. Only had to do this once before but one of the lambs suffered (but survived) coccidiosis. Vecoxan is so expensive! Taking view that our land has been permanent pasture for centuries so it must have survived this sort of thing before .....
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BAEEN OUT TO CHECK THE EWES minus six still lots of snow lambing hasent started yet still dont no where 60 ewes are to cold forcast reads UK WEATHER Colder than Greenland! Britain set for coldest Easter weekend on record With less than 48 hours before the official start of Britain faces its coldest Easter weekend on record with temperatures in some places lower than Greenland, experts warned today. With less than 48 hours before the official start of the British summer, the Met Office said some spots could see overnight lows of -10c (50f). The chilling news came as official statistics showed this month is set to the coldest March in the UK since 1962. (http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/weather) With mean temperatures of just 2.5c (36.5f) - 3c (37.4f) below average - it is also set to be the joint, fourth coldest March in the UK since records began in 1910.The coldest was 1962 when the mean temperature for March was bone-chilling 1.9c (35.4f) followed by 1947 with 2.2c (35.9f). This month is also set to be confirmed as one of the top 20 gloomiest since 1910, with only 59 hours’ sunshine in the UK up to March 26. Forecasters said there was no sign of the arrival of summer despite the clocks go forward an hour at 1.00am on Sunday marking British Summer Time The Met Office forecast a cold but dry Bank Holiday weekend with 3c (37.4f) -7c (44.6f) day-time highs but with “bitterly cold” winds to start and finish. ]Lowest (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-weather-easter-weekend-britain-1790813#) temperature are expected in the East along with ice, frost and snow flurries. said some spots could see overnight lows of -10c not looking good iv fed them all today on nuts etc and eney longer will just cost to much in feed .We can go a week not much more never had this before 2010 was bad but this is inposabul
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I think with a lot of people it's going to be the cost of feed not only the temperatures that they will struggle with. I've had my pregnant ewes in since 5 March and it's cost me an arm and a leg in feed and straw, with another 15 outside, 6 horses and ponies and 2 pigs.
Since we've lived here (nearly 9 years) the most I've got through in winter is 4 haylage bales; usually my back field has enough grass to hold up till the grass starts growing again in the summer fields. This year I've used up 10 of my own bales and have bought in another 10, countless bags of feed and still no end in sight! No chance of moving anything anywhere any time soon, the summer fields are still under water :-\
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My husband and I went to help our local friendly farmer today with lambing (he always makes himself available when I have sheep probs with my small flock so thought this would be a good way of saying thank you). We're on the Shropshire Welsh boarder & had significant snow in the hills. We managed to get into some of the fields today, first day farmer has been able to get into some areas, the loss of life was there for all to see; Lambs still lying next to the dead ewes, ewes calling for dead lambs, it was distressing but all we could do was focus on the ones who were still alive & needing food. The most worrying thing was we couldn't get to all areas and I hate to think what further loss of life there has been. I felt very lucky when I got home to look at my 10 ewes all safe & well with their lambs in the shed. My local farmer is trying to be upbeat but you can just tell its taken it's toll in terms of worry for the welfare of his stock and the financial implications. The ewes he managed to get into the shed are doing well but he has had to squash them into every single area, even the dog has been kicked out of its kennel. I feel so sorry for him and his family :(
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Amen to that!
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:'( :sheep:
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Wellies your a braver person than me - I help out my near farm for experience but I don't know how I would cope with that - then I guess your looking for the ones you can save not for the dead so all hands on deck - good on you
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The thing is when you save a ewe if in lamb it will blow up when the lamb dies farmers reporting saving ewes only to find them the next day dead .Scotland is not as bad as the north east aran Ireland etc .Its as bad as foot and mouth no young lambs in the fields when spring comes .The food is a concers as stock is running out and forcasts still look bad minus 10 this morning .Last up date sunday More of the same on Easter Monday as high pressure remains to the north, keeping the UK under a cold easterly air stream. Overnight temperatures will fall readily where skies clear, with -5C (27F) or even lower possible in places, leading to further moderate or even severe frosts for the time of year. The unseasonal weather looks set to continue in early April, and there is the risk of strengthening winds and another pool of cold air bringing an increased risk of snow showers to northern and eastern regions through the second half of the week. Temperatures could finally start recovering through the second week of April. will be keeping an eye on the prospects in the coming days