Why I don't outwinter...

[Rob R]

Click to see why

We brought the cattle in for the winter on Saturday and I went down to see how it was looking this morning. A bit damp was my conclusion. Good timing.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

I am fortunate to have access to ground from 300 to 600 feet above sea level all sloping, so little danger of flooding though the ground is saturated. They usually manage to find a dry sheltered bit to lie on. The great advantage for me is that I will not need to feed them probably till at least the end of January.

Hope the ground dries before your grass is too damaged.

The recent weather will have been major concern to quite a number of Dexter owners, I hope everyone is safe.

Duncan

[Rob R]

If the grass gets damaged by waterlogging, it tends not to grow here. The biggest danger is not getting it grazed off in time, in which case it leaves a horrible thick sludgy mat and it struggles to grow through it until the hooves have broken it up a bit. I'm pleased to say that we grazed the lot this year though.

I hope those who've had more extreme flooding than us are OK, too.

[Jac]

Yes, it is indeed a bad situation

I am thankful that we are 1000 feet above sea level but with continuous rain for the past month (and more to come) everywhere is saturated.

[nuttalls]

hello all, most dexters in, angus,s can please themselves, 12 still out away from home,lucky for us we live at 1000 ft,so no flooding,but not 5 miles away farmers we know lost 150 sheep due to rivr bursting banks,so sad jean

[Kate]

Here in France we have had 582 mm of rain this year our average rainfall is approx 800 mm, its incredible to see the pictures on this website and on the BBC over the last few weeks and my heart goes out to everyone who is flooded. Here we are still bathing in sunshine and kicking up the dust, incredible for this time of year, our weather is normally very similar to Southern England but something has gone wrong this year !!!! I expect we will make up for it in 2016 ! The forecast for the first week in January is rain, rain and more rain - the autumn calves and lambs will wonder what is going on ! Happy New year from Central France Kate

[Saffy]

Very wet here but all safe. Most of mine are in the shed. Much luckier than so many others!

[Rob R]

Fortunately Dexters are good swimmers

[Tim Watson]

Very wet here and ground saturated but nowhere near as bad as up north. We are having increasingly serious discussions about a new barn to bring them into.

[PorcPrunus NL]

Here in Holland we had a very wet winter. No frost at all.
Most cattle are in, but 6 steers 3 bulls and 2 cows are still in the conservation area. The growing of grass has ended finally. There is not much left to eat. I'm start feeding hay-silage for 2 weeks ago.

[bjreroberts]

I think it has been 8 years now since I started keeping Dexters. I have always been happy out wintering them until the last 3 years, January 2014 and December 2015 have been awful with the wet weather.

If it continues like this I will have to reconsider.

[Rob R]

It's a bit windy here today, I have no idea where the fences will be when it goes down this time; https://www.instagram.com/p/BAhiIjLBmKy/

[Saffy]

Thought you said Dexters could swim Rob...I can't see them anywhere ...you should have given them water wings!!!

[Rob R]

Here's one, swimming in the dyke at the end of the same field, earlier in the year.

[Saffy]

Woweee

Stephanie