glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
In 81 there werent many 4wd tractors about. Loader tractors were msinly 2wd
and useless in snow
Winter 1981
- Thread starter glasshouse
- Start date
and useless in snow
Cab-over Pete
Member
- Location
- Kenilworth, Warwickshire
Dad would have been driving the milk tanker in winter 81.
I can remember him saying how he had to ram snowdrift’s occasionally to get through to farms.
The drifts on the lea side of hedges were so deep we could dig tunnels through them as kids.
Another great winter here was 2010-2011
Not much snow but -10 to -15 in November into December, nice bit of Christmas snow for the kids, then -10 for a spell in January. I got loads of spreading done, best winter ever.
I can remember him saying how he had to ram snowdrift’s occasionally to get through to farms.
The drifts on the lea side of hedges were so deep we could dig tunnels through them as kids.
Another great winter here was 2010-2011
Not much snow but -10 to -15 in November into December, nice bit of Christmas snow for the kids, then -10 for a spell in January. I got loads of spreading done, best winter ever.
Pistonbroke
Member
2010 it was minus 20 here for about a week at night. I was traveling home on a quad every night,with the wind-chill it was a brutal trip
DeeGee
Member
- Location
- North East Wales
Exactly. Although 1981 was much easier than 47 or 63 there is no doubt that we are now so much better equipped to cope with snow than we ever have been before.
4x4 pick ups, tractors and loadalls with huge buckets mean that we can clear lanes and roads in a tenth of the time it took in 1963, and probably a hundred times quicker than the men had to do with shovels in 1947.
So to all those who reminisce about ‘the good old days’. Just remember that we knew no better then and we just had to get on with it. No way would I go back half a century for any farm job, including clearing snow by hand or even with a 35 with a front end loader and no cab.
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
The winter of 85-86 hasn’t been mentioned yet. Was on my sandwich year near Telford in Shropshire sharing a house with 3 Harper students. It didn’t thaw at all through February, dropping down to the minus 20’s if I remember correctly. No central heating, we used to open the fridge door to warm up the kitchen.
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
That was a killer
Feed quality was rubbish after the bad summer
Spring never came, we were still feeding ewes in june
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
The programme focused largely on farmers. Very good
I. remember taking a kit on a hand bouggy to school with it over half full of water so school could function. 63.
Old Boar
Member
- Location
- West Wales
I was farming here in 81, power went out on 13th Dec and not back until the new year. Carting water from the stream in buckets to water the cattle - took hours every day. Paths cut from the house to the yard. 3 children getting soaked every day with sledging etc, the solid fuel rayburn went through a lot of coal trying to keep warm and dry. We all slept in the sitting room as it was not below freezing in there.
Bagging snow to stuff in the freezer to keep the food we had edible, digging leeks and parsnips out of the garden with a bar and sledge hammer. A snow plough came through after two weeks, hit the drift by the house and sheared the blade off. Sat in the yard for months.
But the winter of 62/63 was a lot worse, three months below freezing, snow up to the bedroom windows in Wiltshire. Being lowered out of the window on a rope by my father to clear the snow from the front door. I must have been the expendable one of 4! The army dropping supplies from helicopters, including bread, spuds and tobacco. My father only wanted the tobacco!
Snow is lovely for an hour or so...
Bagging snow to stuff in the freezer to keep the food we had edible, digging leeks and parsnips out of the garden with a bar and sledge hammer. A snow plough came through after two weeks, hit the drift by the house and sheared the blade off. Sat in the yard for months.
But the winter of 62/63 was a lot worse, three months below freezing, snow up to the bedroom windows in Wiltshire. Being lowered out of the window on a rope by my father to clear the snow from the front door. I must have been the expendable one of 4! The army dropping supplies from helicopters, including bread, spuds and tobacco. My father only wanted the tobacco!
Snow is lovely for an hour or so...
Snow here in 62 meant we broke up from school in December & never went back until after half term in Feb as school buses couldn't run over the moorland as snow deeper than hedges, good times if you were a kid, not so good for my father as many sheep buried in snow & lost, we would walk along the top of hedges looking for air holes where the snow had melted from sheep's breath.
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
Snow is about thr only time that a farmer on a tractor is appreciated
Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
81 was before my time but I remember the 2010-11 one, we were thawing pipes out every day to get water for cattle it was a nightmare, and the diesel on the tractor kept freezing up
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
Whats a kit?
- Location
- cheshire
Kit= milk churn
- Location
- Ceredigion
No milk churns in 81, that was part of the problem , around here any how's
It was easy to get across fields with a few churns in a link box
Paddington
Member
- Location
- Soggy Shropshire
Sharing a farm cottage in 81, logburner was our only heating. Back home from work indoors and on with the thermals, waking up to thick ice inside the bedroom window sills and downstairs to find there was another power cut so no breakfast. Used to have big fry ups at night on top of the log burner. 
resourceful ones around here still had a few churns kept, and like you say through the fields avoiding the drift s to the main road layby where the lorry was waiting to load with a que of dairy's farmers waiting .
bigger ones had a tank in a trailer with bales of straw around to cushion the sides /hold it steady .
also Some bigger outfits bought snow ploughs ,but never really used them again ,and since .
dogandstick
Member
- Location
- on the horizon
Probably due another one to catch us out. Never be surprised in spite of global warming