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The difference in soil types amazes me. After the heavy weekend rain, I was anxious to see whether the land had got too soft for stock or whether some of the moisture deficits after the dry summer and autumn had simply been reduced. In fact, we had both.
In the most vulnerable field of gley-type soil, which I had intensively drained some years ago, the inherent poor structure allowed the water to percolate quickly down to the drains and the flow from the main drain into the ditch was visible, while the surface itself had quickly become too soft for any stock except sheep. On the other hand, the normal, mineral soil had easily absorbed the rain, the surface was fully trafficable and the drainage pipes going into the ditches were bone dry.
The land involved could easily take cattle on grass or a tractor-mounted sprayer where it is in crops. We still have some young cattle out but as shed space becomes available, when fit bulls are sold, we are bringing them in. But I reckon it will be another three weeks or so before we have nothing outside – later than I would like, but there is nothing else we can do. While we could sell some three-quarters finished bulls for shipping, it’s not an avenue I want to go down.
As winter approaches, we have made up our mind that we must have a generator to keep cattle and house supplied with water in the event of a serious power outage. We haven’t had one for many years but I have no wish to repeat the intense anxiety of last year’s high winds and crippling snow falls.
As it happens, the power stayed on for which we were grateful but we shouldn’t count on such luck lasting indefinitely.
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