The Big Freeze - Dec 2022

Soon as the cold kicks in my back takes bad, always the same. I can see snow on hilltops 25 miles away, I hope that's as close as it gets. At least the ground is drying up a bit.

How long will cattle on silage do without water. Pipes frozen solid here

Wrapped up the external water tank, (it's a spare source for the shed), wrapped up the internal shed tank, 2 blue barrels, salted the path to shed, a few extra bales brought in to yard and thankful that its not raining. Anti freeze and new batteries.

All handy stuff but it is cold but handy weather.

Id be tempted to put a group out, they are only in a week, there is one heifer in the group she puts her forehead against a post and will push til it breaks or goes down, so easier to have them in. She is a pure rooter and I'd call her out on it but she'd say the same about me, so we'll say nothing.

Buried pipes is the only job, just a Tee up out of the ground to the trough then having that vertical pipe insulated.

Anyone have one of these or similar down.

Drinkers starting to freeze here in sheds. Only saviour here is 20%dm pit silage.

have about 2000 litres of water pumped into the cattle drinkers since 4pm and a couple of hundred bucketed to sheep

theyre on baled silage and its fairly dry

we had a by pass system going in 2010 which we connected a few times during the day and then blow out with a compressor

will check forecaST to morrow and decide

we were busy at different things and kinda got caughgt off guard to day the main feed must be frozen under concrete some where

I'm finding the small plastic jfc type are not freezing. The galvanized type are freezing quicker

Mine are drinking from a river so are OK. If that freezes over then alot of ye are in bother

Horrid things, never again will one go into my sheds! the steel is so thin in them if a cow farts against them they rip the bolts through the back plate and then they leak.

Spent the last two years changing them over for plastic ones. Zero hassles with them.

Makes no difference if it's minus 5 or minus 10. Minus is Minus.

But for the posterity it's forecasted to be minus 10 on Monday morning.

Ah it does make a difference, in terms of how much the frost penetrates.

We're OK here usually with pipes etc down to about -6C. I'm a bit worried that the shed feed froze fully the first night of this spell.

And we've a week at least of it to go.

It's grand here no frost at all last night

Yeah I have something myself. Not sick or anything just head feels off.....more than the usual I should add