[Womble]

As we prepare for the New Year, I've been thinking: since winters definitely seem to be getting warmer and wetter here, what opportunities does this present, and what can we do to mitigate the challenges?

What do you reckon?  I'm thinking along the lines of:

• making more of the polytunnel off-season (winter salads might become easier for instance)
• improving drainage as much as we can, and putting down hardstanding in gateways and other muddy areas
• footvaxing the sheep
• upgrading the hay shed so we can bring sheep indoors if we need to
• getting more ducks and geese, since frankly they seem to like it!!

What else can you think of? 

[Buttermilk]

We are putting ground reinforcing down as quad tracks but it allows the grass to grow through and the rain to drain while giving a solid bottom to the tracks.  It is best put down in dry weather though.

[Buffy the eggs layer]

I dont know that they are getting warmer and wetter.....


For me anyhow last year was incredibly dry and typically cold from Jan to April. Prior to that my North Yorkshire neighbours were loosing sheep in snow drifts though thankfully I wasnt effected and the year before I had heavy snow in Nov. In 2010 It was minus 12 for over 7 days and heavy snow. Am I in the wrong part of the world?


I do think your plan to create dry, indoor accommodation for the livestock is a good idea for either wet or snowy weather but as storms and gales and the tail ends of hurricanes seem to be a feature from Michaelmas at least until the feast of St Steven then I would definitely shore up the polytunnel.


I dont know what ground you have Womble but I would recommend a sand composition for your poly if you want to grow livestock carrots and lettus. I live in a sandy salad growing part of the world along with producers of carrots and spuds.The sand warms up early in the year and holds the heat but is always thirsty so if your winters are warmer and wetter the veg should do fine.

[Marches Farmer]

It's so warm here that the salad leaves I put in in October as a catch crop before the frost are still doing fine outside.  We have a small wood with clumps of Scots Pines forming a roof and under them an area with hedges on two sides and we build up a "wall" of fallen branches on the third side.  We leave a field hayrack and buckets down there and the hoggetts go in there if it snows.  Decades of fallen pine needles under the trees make it fairly dry under foot, too.  There's an old chicken shed we can store haybales in.

I Footvaxed once, in 2007, and have never had to do it again.  Recommend Autumn, as the adjuvant caused the hoggetts to rub the vaccination site raw and flies were a problem in late Spring.

[Womble]

I dont know that they are getting warmer and wetter.....

I know we shouldn't extrapolate based on just recent experience, and 2015 has been exceptional in many ways. My statement was based on a feeling from what I remember growing up, and from what various local farmers have said to me (one of whom has rainfall and temperature records going back 40 years).

The best real data I could get my hands on quickly is from the MET Office, and you're right Buffy, it's not that conclusive. I couldn't get average temperature data, but I've plotted rainfall on the attached graph. What I think that does tell us is that the weather is becoming more variable (and I'm sure this will be even more prominent if we were to look on a week by week basis). So basically when it rains, it now pours!!

[member=75709]Buttermilk[/member], have you decided on a brand / type of quad track?  We need to be able to drive the Landy across our back lawn without getting it stuck and I've been thinking along similar lines!

Marches Farmer, it's footvax day today, as it's finally stopped raining. We've got to get it done before the Vet (my sister) goes back to work - well, she volunteered to help, and she's less likely to lose a finger than I am!

[Bionic]

What else can you think of? 

Buy a boat?

[harmony]

What seems to have changed with the weather for me is that we don't have four distinct seasons anymore. They seem to roll into one. When there is an extreme weather event more people seem affected, which is probably right as we have more population but also we have better media/social media coverage of what affects people. One thing is certain when it arrives in force there isn't much we can do to halt it so we need to be better prepared, if that is possible.


Here in Cumbria a lot has been said about the changes in ditch and river management. Less cleaning out and dredging, less catchment and more flooding.

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Womble,


  my observations are more anecdotal than analytical but yeah for me variable is how it feels. I find judging hay consumption, grass growth, best time to lamb etc year on year seems to fluctuate greatly and the opportunity to find an accurate long term forecast is a real challenge.


Having said that Womble I do think that weather patterns in some parts of the country seem easier to predict than others. Your part of the world may indeed experience milder temperatures and as a result be more likely to experience rain than snow.


 

[SallyintNorth]

BH is adamant that, the snows of 2009 and 2010 notwithstanding, it has been getting milder and wetter here over a couple of decades. 

The extreme events seem to be becoming more extreme and more frequent. 

All of which is exactly what the climate scientists were predicting 10-15 years ago for the northern parts of the UK.  They also predicted a more Mediterranean climate for the southern parts, and significant sea level rise.

We'd frankly rather have the snow and cold than rain; it's a lot of work and we need plenty of forage, but the livestock can cope with cold and snow (provided not deeper than their leg length!) much better than they can unrelenting wet.

On your scale and with your chosen breed of sheep, Womble, I would certainly look to have space available to bring the sheep indoors if necessary.  We were actually discussing whether farmers hereabouts will need to move in this direction with a couple of our neighbouring farmers just last week.

Other options?  Worms?  Snails?

[Backinwellies]

Watching this tread with interest ........... just resorted to bringing sheep in (with access to field) ... as the fields are awash and puddling into a muddy soup .... unfortunately the planned extension of sheep shed is still in kit form on drive as rain arrived before ground works could be started!

Just organising a tree covered area for cattle too

[Buttermilk]

Womble this is what we have http://www.green-tech.co.uk/products/landscaping-ground-reinforcement/grbplus/grb-plus/ not the cheapest but we want something to last.

We are really thankful that we are at the start of the drainage system here so the first to drain off and even better is that oh has found nearly all the old drains and got them working this Autumn, only one not found so not getting away in that spot.  If he does not find it there will be a new one dug in this spring.

[Marches Farmer]

Herefordshire Council seem to have woken up to ditch and road drain management in the last couple of years and it's much better this Winter.