After the excellent summer we just had, it can be easy to forget the storm Éowyn back in February.

At home in Mayo we were over a week without mains electricity as ESB workers valiantly tried to get through the mountain of repairs to restore power to homes and businesses.

It was the same right throughout the country, with some severe damage done to homes and farm buildings.

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It’s become more of a common occurrence now. We seem to get either a blast of heavy snowfall, or freezing conditions, or severe wind and rain at some stage in the winter months, and all we can do is prepare for the inevitable and try to lessen the impact it has on our lives.

Over 1,200 generators were applied for during the Emergency TAMS tranche back in March of this year.

They’re close on being a necessity for dairy farmers from an animal welfare point of view and many drystock holdings have implemented smaller generators in to their farms as well.

Backlog

It’s all about planning; the day the power goes out is not the day to go looking for a generator, only find after begging and borrowing that you are not rigged up to use one.

My understanding is the backlog for generators is now over, so if you find yourself still without one, my advice is to get organised now. Generators are the top of my list on p44-45 of this week's issue where I have a rundown of 10 essential items for your farm heading into the winter. It’s also worth assessing your farm as a whole; looking at potential issues should there be high winds again that may bring already loosened sheeting with it, or the impact flooding may have on your farm.

Straw supplies

Page 41 have some key tips in preparing for extreme weather conditions, both for your own safety and your animal’s welfare. Finally, on p42-43, some more normal preparation work on farms is ensuring straw supplies are ample. It’s probably been one of the best years for supply in a while, with quality always being excellent. A phrase I like is “straw is the best disinfectant’’; don’t skimp on it or risk the ensuing health issues.