Davie Smith of Clockrickford, near Ellon, has a contract with Aberdeenshire Council to keep local roads clear. “I was out every day for about three or four hours,” he told Farmers Journal Scotland. “My biggest humbug was cars abandoned on the road. You have to be careful going by because you don’t want to damage the car, and it’s difficult reversing‚ especially when there are other cars behind you.

“The council used to have tremendous snowploughs, but they’re not being replaced because it’s so expensive.”

Andrew Stevenson of Bonerbo Farm, whose online video of clearing snow on the B9131 clocked tens of thousands of views, said: “We’re pretty exposed in the East Neuk of Fife, because we have no fences or hedges to stop snow drifting. The fields were bare, but there were four- and five-foot drifts on the east-west roads. I’ll be glad to see the back of it.”

Arla will pay for uncollected milk

Milk co-operative Arla said it will pay farmers who had to dump milk if tankers could not make it onto farms to collect it.

Meanwhile, Müller advised its producers that discarded milk should be claimed on insurance.

A Müller spokesperson told Farmers Journal Scotland that it had collected 96% of the milk it would expect to across the UK last week.

“That is as a result of tremendous collaboration by farmers who supply us clearing roads for us to get access,” the spokesperson said.

Müller supplier Andrew Paterson of Balfron reported that he had poured away 22,000 litres, or nine milkings’ worth, of milk.

Insurance

Approximately half of the dairy farmers insured with NFU Mutual take out optional cover to include uncollected milk, rural affairs specialist Tim Price said.

“We’ve had few claims to date; farmers in badly affected areas are still getting back to normal,” Price reported.

“Claims may come in days or weeks after the event. The biggest claims bill we anticipate is for burst pipes in domestic homes and business premises.”

He added that photographic evidence of damage, details of what happened and receipts for repair work will be helpful to process claims quicker.