The cold weather continued throughout January and the most noticeable effect as we entered February was how empty the barns were looking. I said last summer the hay was better than usual, but there wasn’t much of it and this has proved the case, as although the silage is good and I soak it in molasses, the hay is always eaten first.

It’s interesting after a snowfall to walk around and see what wildlife has visited during the night. The most common tracks are made by rabbits who seem to have been everywhere. The other common track is the fox. Fortunately, I see no badger tracks. Having had a problem with holes appearing in the silage bales earlier in the winter and suspecting rats were the problem, although no bait was being taken and, where as rats usually nibble and leave shreds of polythene and a smooth hole in the silage, these bales were torn with tufts of silage hanging out. The snow revealed that the damage was being done by rabbits, as no rat tracks were visible, but plenty of rabbit tracks were.

Talking of the snow and listening to the crisis going on in urban areas as schools shut, public transport shut down, all motorists think they are Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear and get stuck, instead of using low gears and driving slowly. It’s lovely to see everyone enjoying themselves sledging down the surrounding hills. Some enterprising youths even hauled scaffolding across fields to make jumps half way down. However, the countryside code does still apply. Don’t abandon your cars alongside the road or in gateways, making it difficult to get feed to cattle or sheep grazing the banks. Don’t swear at farmers who ask you not to climb over barbed wire fences and make the wire slack, because the whole fence then has to be tensioned, a time consuming job, but the main complaint we have is that after you have enjoyed yourselves, not take everything (bin liners, plastic trays, bags and scaffold poles) you brought home with you. After all we have enough to do without cleaning up behind you.

Countryman