Bit windy out...

[Rob R]

...I hope everyone, and their Dexters, get through it alright.

[Louisa Gidney]

Wondered why one group of sheep were sheltering in rushes last night, rather than their heavy, metal field shelter. Found out why this morning, it's upside down on its roof. Fortunately all the sheep are safe.
Dexters are starting to enquire when the winter B&B is opening for business. I'd rather they were out in this mild weather, less pneumonia risk. Short of dryish places for them to lie in though. High ranking cows won't share the field shelters, though there's plenty of room,

[Rob R]

Just moved our cows & calves to a new field - they didn't want to go yesterday, when it was all calm and still, but this afternoon they were ready! Apart from the few that were round the corner, and then couldn't work out how to get across to the cows that had moved, at the other side of the flood banks.

Fortunately nothing too wind related - the neighbour lost his sheds a couple of years ago so it blows straight through now. That's one advantage of not having sides on ours.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

I am pleased to say that it has not been as rough as expected on the Isle of Bute, though we have had a lot of rain in the last few weeks. Perhaps one advantage of being a small island is that there is only a short distance for rain to run before it gets to the sea. The centre of town can flood a bit if the sea is unusally high due to wind and low air pressure coinciding with extra high tides, but ok so far this year. Burnside Dexters are running on about 60 acres of rough hill, lots of rushes and whins to shelter in, and seem to be quite content. It has been so wet and so misty some days I do not even see them. Breeding bulls and our oldest cow are inside.

Thoughts to all those who have been badly affected by Storm Desmond

Duncan

[Jac]

Seem to have survived the winds without too much damage - tree down across fence but no cows out there to escape. As for the rain, can remember when it started seems to have been raining forever. Can't tell you the exact amount of rainfall we have had as the bad weather has beaten our weather station into submission.

[Kate]

Thinking of everyone in the UK , have just been watching BBC and the dreadful weather, amazing. I do hope no one is to drastically effeted !

We have just done our rainfall chart for the end of November, and for 2015 we have had 600 mm of rain for 11 months our average here in central France is is 850/900 mm, we are far below average and have just been recognised as a region for dryness compensation (no idea how much yet) to help pay for the extra feed and forage we had to buy in August and September - we started feeding hay on the 25th of June !

Its incredible how the gulf stream changes the climate so much over a few hundred miles !

kate

[SteveM]

This appeared on bbc news this morning, found itv version of a far travelled cow in the floods
http://www.itv.com/news/border/2015-12- ... loodwater/

[Saffy]

OMG poor heifer I wonder if she was most traumatised by the floods or the length of the grass on the golf course....bet she thought she had arrived on a very large but very poor field, I can just picture her searching around for a blade of grass !

Stephanie

[SteveM]

and the same story from a different paper

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather ... -away.html

when i have visited the carlisle september rare breeds sale in recent years have stopped at the warren guest house not far from the cattle market, its in the middle of the picture attached to the article