[doganjo]

All animals can have veg oil that I know of, and who would know - except for the shiny coats?

[Frieslandfilly]

This is our 3rd year at smallholding, this year I must have become aclimatised!! Last year all I did was moan and groan about the cold, the wet and the mud, this year whenever I go out to do the animals I look around and think how pretty everything looks even though I have to go out and break and refill over 15 buckets of ice everyday, it gives me great satifaction to know that the animals have all been fed and got water and are warm and comfortable, then I can go back inside into the warm and do it all again later on in the day!! Have I now graduated to a 'seasoned' smallholder or have I taken the first step on the road to complete madness!! LOL

[HappyHippy]

Well, if it's the first step on the road to complete madness - hurry up and catch up with me  (I'm well down that road already )
I like the ice (kinda) it hardens up the mud !

[ballingall]

Oh I love the fact that it hardens up the ground. It's just a bit too extreme now though.

Disaster this morning- 4x4 wouldn't start, had to push it out of the way and fortunately the van was fine. Alex took mum off to hospital leaving me to do the goats, and stranded with no vehicle that worked, so not able to get to work. Got worried by 11.30am when I hadn't heard anything, so phoned the hospital, as Alex had his phone switched off, and discovered they had got there safely.

They got back at 1pm, had a quick chat and a review of my mother's huge wound, then I left for work. Only to end up sitting on the M9 behind the ambulance that crashed, and waiting on the air ambulance landing and taking the ambulance's passenger off to hospital. Got to work at 3pm!

Then got a phone call to say my sister has gone into labour, Alex had managed to get a jump start and gone to get a new car battery (reason why 4x4 wouldn't start), and my other sister was picking the children up from school. Eventually got hold of them and sent them off to Glasgow, left my sister looking after my nephew, Alex took my brother in law to the hospital, as their car is still stranded in Morrison's car park. In the meantime I have to do all the animals and water on my own as mum not feeling great. All sorted now- no news on the baby yet, think it might be an overnight job.

One day this will all be a distant memory- I can't wait until that day.

Beth

[mab]

We seem to have got off lightly in Suffolk - so far; haven't had more that 6" of snow at a time - even when the south got snowed on it missed us. 

Hope I'm not tempting fate - it's just started to snow again...

[doganjo]

One day this will all be a distant memory- I can't wait until that day.
Beth

Goodness, Beth, what a day!  What happened to Fiona - is she OK?  Hope your sister and the baby are fine - nothing nicer than a  Christmas baby - I'm one myself - not exactly a baby now though.

[ellied]

I posted elsewhere but my barn roof collapsed at the weekend too, well the lean to section but the original is now too exposed and filled up with snow over my remaining straw bales and the gate is stuck so I can't roll them out
I'm pretty sure the house insurance won't cover it as an outbuilding and I don't have separate farm insurance for it as it's just a pole barn with a (ex) leanto so will have to see if I can find anyone to re-do the roof once the snow melts off and the gates are usable again..

Water defrosted once last weekend long enough to fill the troughs, other than that I've been carrying drums from the kitchen sink to 3 fields by barrow on what is now pretty much a bobsleigh run   But yesterday I got one outside tap running and filled the 2 closest by hose and the last by hose and bucketing the last wee bit.  I've left the tap running overnight just enough to not freeze again so fingers crossed as that is far easier on the back and elbows   I didn't like to put oil in the ponies' water in case they didn't take to it as it'd take a lot to get rid of it all let alone in these conditions.

Today is bin day and there was no collection last week but I dragged the wheely out and left it sitting on 3' of snow at the verge anyway so it's still there for today if they manage to get here.  I'm on a main A road but the route comes through back roads so I'm not sure.  Mail has come about every 4-5 days so I reckon they're alternating routes..

But today we are due to get above freezing for the first time in ages so fingers crossed I can get a few jobs done and possibly see about rescuing the hay from under the fallen roof before I run out