What have you learnt from the chilly spell?

[nick...]

Had a phone call today thanking me for clearing the snow.really appreciated,be different in a months time when leaving mud on the road or holding up cars.
Nick...

 

[steveR]

My bags were over 7 years old and still perfect but stored in a dry darker shed and not exposed/ left in sun light.

I have a pallet of the stuff as a reserve stock for the local Parish Council. I just walked around it with a part used roll of silage wrap. Water proof and no sunlight problems...

 

[primmiemoo]

I've learnt that it's A Good Idea to have more than two sets of thermals;
that goatskin gloves are very grippy and can withstand a dunking when de-icing water troughs in normal snowy conditions (Storm Emma/Beast from the East conditions were abnormal);
that willow burns very evenly and well in a woodburner if seasoned for at least 3 years in the dry;
that those little thermal rugs for lambs either bought or else received as freebies with a brand of sheep drench umpty years ago are completely invaluable;
that some people need to retake their driving tests with particular attention to common sense and reading actual road conditions.

 

[Old Boar]

That a rubber glove inside a wooly glove and with another rubber glove on top stops a tap from freezing if wrapped round it, and gives you enough grip to turn the tap on through gloves and frozen numb fingers.

 

[glasshouse]

Must make more hay this year.
Phone wont stop ringing for it

 

[exmoor dave]

Timely reminder of the reason we always make at least some little bale hay

 

[Rowland]

Don’t throw away the lids from energy buckets they don’t half come in handy when moving water about in buckets

 

[hang-on]

Must make more hay this year.
Phone wont stop ringing for it

No doubt this summer will be a flier now and the market will be flooded lol

 

[glasshouse]

No doubt this summer will be a flier now and the market will be flooded lol

No itwont, folk wont want caught again and will be buying off the field into store

 

[chickens and wheat]

cheap rock salt,, got my pallet yesterday. https://www.onlinerocksalt.co.uk/products/rocksalt/rock-salt-4kg

 

[Courier]

cheap rock salt,, got my pallet yesterday. https://www.onlinerocksalt.co.uk/products/rocksalt/rock-salt-4kg

Hope the plastic bags it is packed in don’t deteriorate within 2 years so that you can’t pick them up like some I bought 3 years ago [emoji15]

 

[simmy_bull]

I’ve learned it doesn’t stop people complaining it’s too warm when it’s only a matter of weeks since “the beast from the east”.

Folks’ll be complaining it’s too dry next!!

 

[chickens and wheat]

my last pallet was 6 years old,, but 10kg bags different plastic, a couple of hard winters and they will be gone anyway.

 

[Goweresque]

I’ve learned it doesn’t stop people complaining it’s too warm when it’s only a matter of weeks since “the beast from the east”.

Folks’ll be complaining it’s too dry next!!

I was laughed at by our antipodean friends for suggesting the UK has 'extreme' weather, however within the last 8 weeks we have had temperatures of minus five degrees, and snow drifts ten feet thick, continuous low pressure systems that have produced heavy rain that has saturated and flooded farmland and delayed spring farming operations, and now temperatures in the mid 20s.

Its not that any one of those events could be considered extreme on its own, but that we can have them so close together, and with no predictability either. For example its entirely within the bounds of possibility that between now and midsummer we could have 8 weeks of non stop rain, or 8 weeks of drought. Both have happened before in April/May/June and will again, and UK farmers have to be able to deal with both.

 

[Courier]

I have learned that an ASHP plumbed in to 23 year old underfloor heating with new controls and manifolds works to create the most stable indoor climate you can imagine.

 

[smcapstick]

When it was cold, I had an excuse

Now it's warm... but it's still small

 

[Grassman247]

Just installing some water troughs, what’s people thoughts on this pre insulated pipe riser to water troughs, would it need a heat trace wire inside aswell?

Also any heat trace wire recommended places to buy?

 

[rob1]

View attachment 742886

Just installing some water troughs, what’s people thoughts on this pre insulated pipe riser to water troughs, would it need a heat trace wire inside aswell?

Also any heat trace wire recommended places to buy?

The best thing to stop tanks freezing is some strawy muck round the pipe and over the lid, itgenerates it own heat, cattle wont eat it doesnt break down and is free

 

[Steevo]

That looks a tidy job. Much better than just lagging on its own. Should keep the rats away, keep the lagging attached and keep it clean and looking smart.

 

[Grassman247]

That looks a tidy job. Much better than just lagging on its own. Should keep the rats away, keep the lagging attached and keep it clean and looking smart.

That’s what I thought, heat trace cable inside should stop pipes freezing aswell