HORRENDOUS Winter Weather Makes UK Farming A NIGHTMARE
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- čas přidán 17. 02. 2024
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Hi, my friend, I think your lambs were sensing that you were upset. Like when a dog clings to you when they know you're sick or upset. This is a wonderful feeling to know you have such a closeness to them that they care about you too. I think you're doing a great job and yes where it is all wet now try to do as I do and just think to yourself "This too shall pass. " I think out of my 60 years of life this has been going through my mind more than anything else and I do find that in time it does always pass. There will be bright sunny Skys in the future. Keep your chin up. It is coming! and I send prayers that it will happen sooner for you.
Thank you Renee!
Oh my word - must be sooo demoralising! I don’t know how you do it, but you always seem to find a way through. Big hug
Finding it a struggle, won't lie. But it'll get better ... the better end of winter now at least!
You are doing an amazing job. All your animals are healthy, calm, content and clearly well cared for, all due to your tireless efforts. Hang in there, Spring is just around the corner. You got this!
Thank you! 😊 I do my best and I'm sure they know it. And thank you for donation!
For a temporary fix you could try diverting water around the barn with a ditch system. Yes, it would be a lot of work, but cheaper than the culvert under the barn. Good luck!
Geoff my heart goes out to you. I’m feeling your stress and sorrow. Please try to think positive thoughts. Try thinking about what you’re grateful for. It’s amazing and really works I promise you. Love your real life.
Thanks Chris :)
We are having a snow problem over here in the USA… and a getting sick problem. Ugghhhh….
Bless you I hear you hun here it's so wet every single day and when it isn't the wind is horrific as well. You got this... signs of spring are springing everywhere so it's coming xox
It's horrendous but spring really is around the corner!
U should swap the sow with the boat so she has a dry place to farrow. Also for beds maybe try a wooden palette with cow mats/ rubber mats screwed to them ,they’ll stay dryer when elevated and they are warmer ,u won’t have to use as much straw ,for the boar at least
The boar's wet as well! I hear you on the pallettes ... I'm just not sure they'd survive pigs - my lot are vandals!
Oh how awful. I can see how depressing and demoralizing all that mud would be. You hang in there Sweetheart. In a few weeks time all this will just be a bad memory and you'll be surrounded by babies and wild flowers. In the meantime I'm sending you a huge hug.
Thanks J. Yes, can't wait for a baby or two to arrive.
Hang in there Geoff! Not long until the sunny weather comes... Hopefully. I know it takes money but can you rent a digger for a week, dig small trenches to take the water to the ditches around the barn instead of cutting through it? And/or extend the roof to allow it to run off farther away from the sides? (or sandbag the edges) I have also a few places of soup too, very disheartening. It's my first rainy season on the land too.
The chickens are on about 8 inches of mulch but it's very wet there too. Not sure if the will be staying where they are either. I just keep putting more and more into their run. I hope it'll be great soil this year... Assuming it dries out a bit. Hugs buddy! Can't last forever!
Definitely going to hire a digger in the summer and create some larger swales and collection points higher up the land. Hoping that will capture water and slow it's progress down.
Same here in Cornwall. My sheep are paddling. It's so wet I found 5 voles huddling under one of the sheep bowls today 😟
Poor things. And the voles!
Jeepers,, where’s the arc ? All your hard work and wanting the best for your flock is such a credit to you and this deluge is so upsetting to see ,, you’re doing a fabulous job,, do you think planting a willow wooded area to coppice would help absorb some of the moisture ? In Australia, they plant banana trees which helps with flooding,, wishing you a dry spell 🙏🏼
It would help in summer but part of the issue in winter is everything is dormant. Be much better when trees are in leaf and drawing water up.
As a stopgap, could you put some pallets down with some boards on top just for the small pens or a small part of the pens? Not a lasting solution I know but if you had the materials to hand or available free it would at least keeps some areas lifted above the water.
I'm thinking that might work ... though my pigs are utter vandals. I suppose its enrichment for them to destroy it. Ha
It will be really tempting to try and drain the water away. Instead look into water calming measures throughout you land from highest to lowest. Swales, ponds etc where appropriate, directing the water where topography/needs dictate. You will be more resilient in the floods and the droughts. Well done, keep it up.
Yes, this! Also, I really don't want to create a system which drains my land as then I'm creating issues for drought. I think in summer I'll hire a digger and put in a swale on one top field where I know a lot of the water is coming from. If I connect it to one of the ditches and add some damning, I'll be able to take water from the ditch, relieve the pressure through the system and then drip it more gently.
Aww Geoff! We know you are trying your hardest and we really appreciate you sharing this story! Keep going, you got this!!
Thank you!
Stay strong bud, you will never give in.
Thanks man! You're right ... I won't give up!
The ground is the same here too, even the slightest bit of drizzle seems to cause a flood in a place you didn’t even think could have standing water.
All I can do is send virtual hugs, empathise, sympathise and say I love watching what you’re up to - sending blue skies and rainbows ❤
Thank you so much. Drizzling again here :| But blue skies are surely on the horizon!
Looks horrendous Geoff, totally feel your pain I'd be the same. Working in mud and the constant moving of water is demoralising. Just reading the comments here, lots of good suggestions and your digging a ditch to divert the water around the barn will definitely help. Regards outside your caravan, have you got any woodchip left to put a bit about? Won't last long and will need topping up but it'd feel better for a few days at least. Keep soldiering on and don't forget to allow yourself to feel what you feel, fingers crossed for a drier spring
Deffo need some woodchip. I haven't got much left and my friend hasn't had the work of late to create more. I'm sure this will all become a distant memory come summer.
A long the upper side of your barn you could take a hoe or shovel and dig out maybe 8 inch wide ditch with the soil against the side of your barn.
I live in a temperate rainforest zone so water is always an issue.
Here we make swales across the slopes, with soils piled on the downhill sides. Most of the swales lead to small pond areas. The ditches get dug out because of the amount of erosion and the water is slowed with small rock dams.
Yes, it's a lot of work, it's tedious, but it's the only way we even have yards or garden spaces.
An alternative for temporary fix are cement blocks placed along the barn wall, stones, anything solid to block the water coming in. Some people use tarps dug down then filled back with soils.
Im old enough to remember when you was stressed due to the lack of water. See the bright side Geoff buddy, there is one to be found!
Ha! Yes! Now there's plenty 😆
It is a nightmare at the moment. My fields are completely waterlogged, standing water everywhere. Grass is already ruined for spring, as there has been so much water this winter that it has rotted the grass roots (partially, not all but a lot). That doesn’t happen easily with grass, just goes to show how much water there has been for the past year.
People saying just to go and dig some ditches can get their face stuffed with shite. I have ditches that have been reopened last year. New drainage field that has been done to top spec year before. It’s just so much water with nowhere to go, because there’s so much of it!
Anycase, keep paddling and head above the water 👍 Don’t cry, there’s already too much water blimming everywhere 😁 🏴
Ha! That made me laugh; good point, no more water allowed!
Sorry you're going through it too. I never known anything like it. Suffolk is underwater.
Same here in Cheshire, the water table is so so high. Some things you can fix, some things you can't. Keep pushing through and fix the things you can. I too have a moat of mud, next year will be different 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Your ditches comment made me😂 so much debris has washed down ours it’s impossible and unsafe to keep clearing them. Is anywhere in the UK not under water?
Put French drains in it will help and a lot cheaper then concrete
Oh Geoff xx
Aw your soul would hate the townhouse - but the rain and wet are quite something, and you are being real as opposed to those weird vacuous influencers. It will get better x
I know. I'd take a day and then be done i think! 🤣
Geoff have you checked the drainage when it leaves your property to make sure nothing is clogged, your drainage ditch looks fast, but it could still be clogged off your property, causing it to rise and soaked through to your barn. Just a thought.👍
Sadly no clogs. It all drains down into the pit which is currently a lake!
I'm soooo sorry this happening. I know nothing about flooding, but I remember when my bff got flooded they used sandbags. Maybe you could use them to keep the water out of the barn? 💖🌞🌵😷
I think I'd need a lot of sand! The problem is, the ground behind the barn is higher so it just runs in. Oh well. Stopped raining now so will reasses in the morning!
@@BrimwoodFarm do some research... There might be some flood control barriers that might do the job. There's all sorts of "socks" that you fill designed for your situation. 💖🌞🌵😷
You are coping pretty well considering. Yes but hopefully in a few weeks time things will change for the better. You can only keep putting the straw down to keep them the fairly dry well done.
Thanks mate. Yep, just keep going until weather improves!
So sorry its still raining at your farm. Lots of good suggestions been posted already. Hope any drainage channels you dig will help to drain the water away. Fingers well crossed for you here 😊
Thanks Lynda!
Oh no. It must be really upsetting for you. I hope you’ve had some dryer weather lately.
It's sunny today!
Hi Geoff. So sorry you have this terrible wet time to deal with, it's wet here but nothing like you have but you can do this, it will dry out and in the meantime your animals and birds are cared for, fed and comfortable. You are succeeding on these levels. Yes it's all extra work, expense and worry but you are stronger than you think- we all are. We are thinking of you up here.
Best. Johnny and Jacob.
Thank you both!
You are very welcome Geoff. You'll get through this. 🤓🐶🧔@@BrimwoodFarm
As Ted would say "The drainage needs fixing in the lower field!"
One way to do it is a "simple" ditch that runs alongside the main areas. In a grid fasion, it'll take the majority of water away from settling into another lower area. Also look into changing the soil make-up to make it less likely to collect water, and more likely to either wick it away, or to allow foliage to allow it to evaporate.
It takes a digger and a long weekend for the ditches. Make them a few feet deep and the same width.
Telling you to suck eggs, but it is as simple as that.
...as for just outside your front door... raised platform anyone ❤
Im wishing you well. It WILL ABSOLUTELY GET BETTER!
BARE IT FOR NOW.
THEN... in the summer, long again for all that water 😮
... and make plans to make some simple ditches. No pipes (except an odd culvert) just earth movement.
Cheers 🇬🇧
Thanks mate, I hear you! It will get better and definitely some additional channels around the barn for next year. The current ditch system just cannot deal with the weather this year!
@BrimwoodFarm This "seems" true, but in reality what's happening is that because there has been nowhere for the water to run over this extended period, and now the whole area has reached saturation point, then THIS is the reason for the land water-based deluge!
I know my land is different from yours, but here, there were ditches dug years ago that have taken all the water from the upper moorlands above and enabled it to drain at a steady rate.
I won't go on. You know this.
So! As a CZcams bloke type mate, I'm going to badger you to get this drainage done this year.
... whilst reminding you to buy a few posts, and make a simple platform for your brand new porch. 😉
I know that whenever I get down, my Missus is of no help 🙃 so I tend to remember a few truths.
You are ALL that you can be today!
...and you get on with it.
Your animals ARE the same.
... and they get on with it.
YOU remove your boots upon entry.
THEY do the same as they perch or climb upon your shelves and platforms that you have made for their comfort.
THIS RAIN IS NOT NORMAL.
You couldn't have forseen it.
But you can adapt to it.
... just like your animals.
They WILL find a warm spot.
They WON'T get ill because they are made of sterner stuff.
They will still love you in the morning.
So with your best foot forward, and a cup of Jo, draw plans tonight of that simple raised platform and roof that will fit nicely just outside your front door.
Cheers 🇬🇧
It WILL get better. But in the soggy, muddy moments, you can be forgiven for having a jolly good cry!
Forgive a potentially stupid suggestion, but is it at all feasible to dig a moat/build a bund around the barn to keep out some of the rain?
Or is there a local fund for sandbags, maybe? If not, maybe you could crowdfund for that?
Not stupid. About to go dig a ditch along sheep side to try and drain some of the moisture away!
Believe me, I hear you. I am recovering from surgery on the sofa and poor old Neil is dealing with this as well as a full time job, on his own. We are completely underwater...
Oh lord. Horrendous! Glad you're recovering not glad to hear you're also suffering with the deluge!
It's a lot on your own xxx
It is. But it'll get better!
Irish and British weather is just not ideal for arable farming hence why so many farms are either dairy or beef farming due to constant rain and cloudy conditions
Could you dig around the full shed and drop in perforated land pipe and let it run to the lowest point rather the water run through the shed ?? Bout 37£ for 100m
Least you have a shed
Bales of shavings maybe .
Lots of apsorbant material needed for sure.
Would sandbags work?
I think there's just too much water to be honest. Will try and divert water away.
hardly in history😅 grow a pair son.