We found ourselves in a part of Leinster that was continuously in the red zone. I found the driving relentless eastern blizzard physically difficult and emotionally enervating. We have an old, uncut hedge on the eastern side of the slatted houses with the intention of providing natural permanent shelter but its benefit was limited.

The roads approaching the farm were, for about 36 hours, totally impassable with drifts of 6ft to 8ft, so we were totally on our own. The essentials were first electricity to power the pump for water. With reports of power outages within 10-15 miles of us, I was nervous as to how we would cope with no electricity. In the event, the supply never wavered and with our own deep well pumping up water at 6-8°C, there was no major water problem but I am going to look at the cost of a simple generator.

The other critical necessity is a reliable tractor and machinery such as the loader and feeder that will operate in all weather and conditions. If stock cannot be fed in cold weather, disaster looms. I was acutely conscious that the normal back-up mechanics from our machinery dealers could not realistically get to us if we had a breakdown. In the event, everything worked. We cleared the yard of snow drifts and gave extra silage all round. There is no doubt that cattle appetites increase markedly in cold, biting weather. It was also noticeable how the crows identified the shed with cattle on the high cereal finishing diet as being one of the few sources of food in the area and swarmed over the yard. Constant noise and work activity seemed to be the only real deterrent.