Snow again

If you’d asked me a couple of years ago if we get much snow in North Devon , I’d have told you that in the past 15 years we’d hardly had a frost. But for the third winter in a row, we’ve had a good covering of snow, with temperatures as low as minus 15. It comes as a bit of a shock when we’ve been used to so many warm winters. The farm house in particular has been very cold, I’ve even been sleeping with my wooly hat on!

The ewe flock are largely unaffected by the snow. I usually start feeding silage at this time of year anyway, it just means that  with the grass covered they eat a bit more than they usually would. The lambs are a little more problematic as they are all out at keep on a local dairy farms (where they fatten easily on the the rich grass that is left behind when the milking cows are housed for the winter) These lambs are reluctant to eat any silage or hay offered, preferring to scrape through the snow in search of meagre pickings of grass. Fortunately the grass was only completely covered for a few days, and now with temperatures rising again, the lambs are happier and the ewes are eating less silage.

The snow brings a certain beauty to Borough Farm, but it is nice when it goes again.