Most weeks on the farm I truly believe there is no better job in the world.
Yes it can be tiring and stressful, but in what other job can you say you have seen the sky in every colour of the rainbow and enjoyed sunrises and sunsets that most people would pay to see from their offices.
However, as my dad always says some weeks are just sent to test us and one week in December (December 12-17) was definitely one of those weeks. I believe I am right in saying that most livestock farmers would definitely agree with me on this.
For a week temperatures here didnt get above zero and were stuck at around -7degC for three of those days, with 650 beef cattle all indoors and us trying to keep them supplied with running water, feed and bedding. It was horrendous.
The biggest issue with the cold weather is it takes you a week to figure out how best to deal with the situation and then when you are finally nailing it, it all goes and thaws.
Thankfully a lot of the troughs were still managing to run with only a few needing filling with IBCs.
Our biggest issue was trying to keep our robotic milk feeder going for the calves, as suddenly having 60 cold and hungry calves, with no way of feeding them was horrendous.
By the third day we had it down to an art, using a hosepipe from the house to run it and thawing out the other bits of pipe necessary with an electric heat gun, which I massively recommend (just dont put it near your hair), as well as big blow torches.
My mum bought us the blow torches when the Beast from the East hit a few years ago. When purchasing them the lady behind the till asked her oh, are you making creme brulee? It is safe to say they have never been used to make creme brulee as of yet, but never say never.
On the fourth day I went out feeling optimistic, wrapped up like the Michelin Man. I set off my heat gun, but there was an area of pipe I couldnt reach with the ladder, so Dad lifted me with the telehandler.
I was quite happily thawing the pipe when the thing burst, with the pressure drenching me in freezing water. In that precise moment I did think to myself that an office job wouldnt be that bad, would it?
