Storm Arwen

Greatest sympathy to those affected.

We were very lucky, with no significant damage. (Just a short length of gutter to re-fit)
A few local lanes were briefly closed with trees down.

This shows up my age but on 8th December 1990 we had a severe snow storm that came so thick & fast the snow sat on the wires & snapped off electric poles. It was very localised to the Midlands.
We had a week without electric and 3 weeks without a phone, no internet in those days 😂
We milked with a PTO drive to the vacuum pump & the milk was collected "as it was" no worries about <6 degrees, they were just glad to have it. No power to drive central heating pump (provided by our Danheat straw burner) , Calorgaz for cooking or toast bread on the fire, no TV just battery powered radio.

When it all calmed down, Dad went out & bought a generator.

We've seen it before & we'll see it again, fortunately we're lucky & wise enough to have generators, 4G etc

I remember that storm, the snow was incredible. It took Dad and I all day to do what usually took Dad an hour in the morning.

We threw a dozen bales of hay into the spreader on the back of the Case 1056 and drove the 2-3 miles to the sheep near Kenilworth Castle. Along the way, needing 4wd, we were aware of some quite big bumps in the road and realised we were running over snapped off telegraph poles. Then we saw a big hump in the road which turned out to be a car covered in snow. If I recall correctly it was somebody you may know @Bruce Almighty who had left Kenilworth early doors to attempt the journey to milk cows several miles away, but had to abandon his car and trudge back home, luckily not far.

Once at the sheep it took several attempts to get down the sunken lane and to the gate where we found all the sheep in one tight bunch not far from the gate. They were pleased to see us but once we spread the hay out they all buggered off along a narrow track they had cut through the snow!

It took over an hour to drive home again and the rest of the day to feed the cattle.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
I have a bore hole (with a submersible pump 200' down), and my biggest fear of a power cut is no water!
Spoke with a friend earlier today, their water is pumped up from a local village main, about 2 miles and 400 ft below them... No water in the taps since Friday. Happily, they do have streams for stock...

She said Hubby went out in his undies for a wash and shave in teh stream... she was content to stay whiffy!!!
 
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ORRA LOON

Member
Location
Moray
Summer house roof at 1 of our cottages wrapped itself over the actual house but apart from 1 skylight in 1 of the pig sheds we’ve escaped lightly.
Trees down everywhere and I’ve been out with a tree surgeon mate on emergency jobs , fortunately for me I missed my SSE induction a while back so haven’t been able to get on the power line jobs meaning I get to go home when they head out for night shift. They had a hell of a time last night with blizzard conditions.
A6CEC1A7-C889-43E6-90D6-351050632158.jpeg

5F047F70-D073-486B-B42F-5425567A217F.jpeg

Tree down over a building at Gordonstoun School.
BF4D877F-5E7A-42F2-9645-FB96CE4F5516.jpeg

A lime tree in local town next to a busy road. Because of the vast amount of dangerous trees we have just been dropping them and moving on, great for me as I’m one of the chipper lads 😂.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Greatest sympathy to those affected.

We were very lucky, with no significant damage. (Just a short length of gutter to re-fit)
A few local lanes were briefly closed with trees down.

This shows up my age but on 8th December 1990 we had a severe snow storm that came so thick & fast the snow sat on the wires & snapped off electric poles. It was very localised to the Midlands.
We had a week without electric and 3 weeks without a phone, no internet in those days 😂
We milked with a PTO drive to the vacuum pump & the milk was collected "as it was" no worries about <6 degrees, they were just glad to have it. No power to drive central heating pump (provided by our Danheat straw burner) , Calorgaz for cooking or toast bread on the fire, no TV just battery powered radio.

When it all calmed down, Dad went out & bought a generator.

We've seen it before & we'll see it again, fortunately we're lucky & wise enough to have generators, 4G etc
Yep remember that one here too. Had to get a mate with a sheep dog, come down to move the tack lambs to a grass field with woods on two sides, and something like hedges to keep them in... Leccy fences were all flat.

House on genny for 3-4 days, Local pub cooked on gas, so did a roaring trade once the roads were opened up (me!) Cooked on gas burner in the house... I promised myself I would put in a gas stove that week....still waiting, albeit we have moved 75yds to the other farmhouse :)
 

H200GT

Member
Location
NORTH WALES
Got away lightly in my part of NW Wales, we are on the West coast as opposed to the North, nothing more than a decent gale here thankfully.

We don't normally get strong wind from the North here, its usually from the West that we get a pounding. Noticed that a few large cargo ships took shleter south of the Llyn Penisnula in Cardigan Bay, can't say I have ever seen them sheltering there previously, so it must have been a reasonably rare strong wind event from the North.
 

Mur Huwcun

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North West Wales
Got away lightly in my part of NW Wales, we are on the West coast as opposed to the North, nothing more than a decent gale here thankfully.

We don't normally get strong wind from the North here, its usually from the West that we get a pounding. Noticed that a few large cargo ships took shleter south of the Llyn Penisnula in Cardigan Bay, can't say I have ever seen them sheltering there previously, so it must have been a reasonably rare strong wind event from the North.

No,we have never seen them there before and Dad is 70 and not seen it. We farm right on the shore between Cricieth and Black Rocks so he went down to have a look a few times!!!
 

Getnthair

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
SW Scotland
Found out this morning that a second home owner in the village can't get back to where his main home is because his electric car battery is flat, which is stuck in his garage because his electric garage door can't be opened manually and he also has no water because his hi tech water filtration system needs electric to work the pump ! Hahahaha 🤣
I was busy cutting up a felled tree at the roadend - tree across the public road - when a lad tapped me on the shoulder. Asked if he could get past - which was decent of him as everybody else had just taken to the verge. Chatted to him whilst his pal eased past in a Tesla.

They were heading up to a forest stage to watch the RAC rally. They were a bit worried when I said all the local power is out and the charge points won't be working.... :D

Bit of damage to rooflights and a couple of trees down. Missed the worst of it here but it was quite noticeable that damage was to buildings that usually survive our westerly gales.

Power went out at 3pm on Friday - when the winds weren't too bad :unsure:. Back on for a couple of hours this evening but off again :mad:. Having to carry diesel to the generator tractor - because we now have an electric fuel pump (- that was a good idea?) - gone through 150 litres of diesel over the weekend.

I don't think I have a lot to complain about.....
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
I was busy cutting up a felled tree at the roadend - tree across the public road - when a lad tapped me on the shoulder. Asked if he could get past - which was decent of him as everybody else had just taken to the verge. Chatted to him whilst his pal eased past in a Tesla.

They were heading up to a forest stage to watch the RAC rally. They were a bit worried when I said all the local power is out and the charge points won't be working.... :D

Bit of damage to rooflights and a couple of trees down. Missed the worst of it here but it was quite noticeable that damage was to buildings that usually survive our westerly gales.

Power went out at 3pm on Friday - when the winds weren't too bad :unsure:. Back on for a couple of hours this evening but off again :mad:. Having to carry diesel to the generator tractor - because we now have an electric fuel pump (- that was a good idea?) - gone through 150 litres of diesel over the weekend.

I don't think I have a lot to complain about.....
Welsh assembly made us put in diesel tanks that can only be emptied by an electric pump, van not keep diesel in a gravity tank anymore!!!!
 

DeeGee

Member
Location
North East Wales
Found out this morning that a second home owner in the village can't get back to where his main home is because his electric car battery is flat, which is stuck in his garage because his electric garage door can't be opened manually and he also has no water because his hi tech water filtration system needs electric to work the pump ! Hahahaha 🤣
Oh dear, what a pity, how sad; never mind!
 
Greatest sympathy to those affected.

We were very lucky, with no significant damage. (Just a short length of gutter to re-fit)
A few local lanes were briefly closed with trees down.

This shows up my age but on 8th December 1990 we had a severe snow storm that came so thick & fast the snow sat on the wires & snapped off electric poles. It was very localised to the Midlands.
We had a week without electric and 3 weeks without a phone, no internet in those days 😂
We milked with a PTO drive to the vacuum pump & the milk was collected "as it was" no worries about <6 degrees, they were just glad to have it. No power to drive central heating pump (provided by our Danheat straw burner) , Calorgaz for cooking or toast bread on the fire, no TV just battery powered radio.

When it all calmed down, Dad went out & bought a generator.

We've seen it before & we'll see it again, fortunately we're lucky & wise enough to have generators, 4G etc
That storm is etched in my memory too. I had started milking on a rented farm that Spring with fresh cows, buying a few more soon after . When the storm hit in early December, we lost power for three days,and had no way of milking the cows. Just what you need with mainly stale cows. Not :( After missing two milkings, we walked them through snowdrifts to next doors ,where they had rigged up a slurry tanker to the abreast parlour. Being unused to it , non of the ungrateful b#ggers would let their milk down:(. Finally ,I got going with an old vacuum pump being driven by a bale elevator engine ( still on the elevator) and a coil of water pipe to a vacuum bucket. Most annoying part of all this was that on the list of ingoings was an absolute dogs ballcocks of a generator ,in its own block built housing, but the old fecker had sold it prior to me moving in, and being a new entrant, I had other financial priorities. I told the outgoers agent where they could shove the generator shed when they asked why I wouldn't pay for it, too.:D
 

Optimus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North of Perth
Power been off for 46 hours now, not likely to be back on in the next 24. Menu is Tea, toast, soup and boiled eggs a la wood stove
Only had 3 trees down over the road. Couple of old oaks have been relieved of a limb or 2.
Got off pretty light though compared to a neighbour who spent 5 hours on the chainsaw cutting his way out of his farm.
How come your power was off so long?the in-laws are only up the road from you an theirs was back on at 8 on Saturday morning
 

Landrover

Member
Still no power here, I was speaking to some electric repair men who have travelled up from Essex to help out yesterday, they said if this had been in the south of England it would have been all over the national news, never seen anything like it ! In places they are working on cables that have never been replaced since the supply was first put in around the late 50s !
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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