Prep for very cold weather

[Shoei]

Hi Guys - I've seen a few credible reports of a very cold December in the UK.

It just got me thinking, what do you do to prep for very cold spells when we aren't used to it?

I've plenty of hay in but I think I'll stock up on feed and make sure all water is topped up and water containers full as our taps freeze very quickly.

 

[Sprout]

I make sure I have plenty of hard feed, hay and bedding in. I keep jerry cans filled out in the fields to top up water buckets when the hoses are frozen, and do the same in the yard. I hope your forecast is right, I am fed up of warm, wet and windy, with extra mud and flash floods!

 

[tristar]

i have that feeling you could be right.

 

[Peglo]

tooding off to buy new rugs now…

 

[dogatemysalad]

Same routine every year really. Ensure I have spare rugs cleaned and repaired, buy in enough supplies so I don't have to make the trek to the feed store when we get snowed in. Fill water containers in case pipes freeze and make sure my boots have enough tread to stop me breaking a leg.

Our great YO uses the summer months to do yard and stable repairs, so when it's cold, dark and wet, the chances of a catastrophe is much less. We've had new fencing, resurfaced drive, stable doors repaired, wash room redone, gutters replaced, new stable lighting and drains up graded this summer. And our livery has not been increased. She should be running the country.

 

[Highmileagecob]

One thing we do have is a tap in a shallow pit with a manhole cover over it. Absolute godsend in winter when the yard tap freezes up.

 

[dorsetladette]

we're lucky here because we are so close to the sea and so far south. we only really get the odd day of frost/frozen ground etc. I've got lots of old thermal/ski gloves which I put over padlocks and taps which stops them getting wet and freezing up. We have plenty of straw for bedding and hay is delivered roughly once a month. Our location comes into its own in bad weather as our many entrance is just off a main A road (trunk road as no motoways in dorset) so its always passable. we put salt down in the drive way and then access is fine.

 

[Vodkagirly]

I always have the next weight in rugs ready to swap, the night you need to do it is always horrid.
I have insulation bags (hello fresh) which I use to cover taps and locks.
I have ibc for water which are insulated and have wrecked rugs on top, I find the ice rises to the top so you get fresh water underneath if the pipes are frozen.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I drag out the bigger water tanks. 1 goes in the large shelter and I fill both as I can funk if necessary from them.
2 x 20 l Water containers come home, on standby.

Additional haynets filled, plus split haylage sacks stuffed, easy for neighbours to tip in if necessary.

If it's very prolonged forecast, then fuzzies will be out 24/7 in paddocks with shelters, in case I get delayed in arriving. Much safer all round.

 

[SEL]

OH has just been looking at that forecast.

I use WD40 on all locks and the gate - plus I make sure I have a flask of boiling water in the car after having to use my coffee to defrost the gate latch last year

Every trug going gets filled up with water and I have 2 containers which can come home.

Warm rugs out of the shed so easily available

They live out anyway, but when we had beast from the east I couldn't get to the horses because there were too many crashed cars so I'll pop out extra hay in case I struggle one day.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Oh, keep your plastic milk containers, 4 pinters are v good as short term hot water bottles when filled with hot tap water at home, wrapped in a towel and popped beside small dog in the car.

 

[southerncomfort]

Just checked BBC long range forecast and it's still looking like 3° here at night until at least mid December so not too cold.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I'm quite looking forward to cold anything but this constant torrential rain?

 

[Widgeon]

I'm quite looking forward to cold anything but this constant torrential rain?

Same here. Mine is out 24/7 all year round, except when the rain is so bad the fields start to suffer....then the bring in, turn out, mucking out begins I'd much rather have him out in some proper cold with soaked hay, get the weight off him and neither of us will be miserable and wading around in mud. I'm so sick of this rain.

 

[rextherobber]

Was looking forward to a bit of "proper" weather, but have now realised the forecast coincides with one of mine staying at a referral clinic, and I definitely don't want to be paying any unnecessary livery fees!

Thank youTFF, for the milk bottle dog hot water bottle tip!

 

[Tarragon]

I emptied, cleaned and re-filled the trough by the stables as the field troughs are switched off (by the farmer) as soon as we get the first frost and don't get switched back on again until next spring. The water is switched off to the stables, but I can switch it on to refill and switch back off again when the weather is ok and I keep spare trough in a stable for the days when too cold to switch tap on. Make sure that the tap at the wall is left on when the water is turned off so that the pipes are drained.
Other than that, not much! The ponies grow their own rugs and are now out in the 10-acre winter grazing for the duration.

 

[Winters100]

I think that I must be a 'prepper' at heart, as I never let my stock of feed go below a minimum of 1 months worth. Not so much for weather, but for any unexpected happenings such as shortages / delivery problems. Winter rugs are repaired or replaced in spring time (much cheaper to buy in sales), and they are packed in chests labelled to indicate what weight rugs they contain. Each rug is labelled to indicate weight and which horse it belongs to, just in case I need to ask someone to dig it out.

Water to the paddock is a problem, and one that I would love to solve. Current arrangements are that the groom breaks the ice when he turns out, and then I communicate with my paddock neighbours to make sure that it is seen to again at last a couple of times before bringing in. If anyone has any smart solutions in this regard I would love to hear them!

 

[HashRouge]

Where are people seeing this? Long range forecasts are not that reliable and while the BBC and the MetOffice are both suggesting it may get colder in December, nothing I can see suggests it will be unusually cold for the time of year.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Where are people seeing this? Long range forecasts are not that reliable and while the BBC and the MetOffice are both suggesting it may get colder in December, nothing I can see suggests it will be unusually cold for the time of year.

I haven't seen any forecast that's wildly differing from usual Dec temps either, not for my neck of the woods. A few just sub zero temps in mid Dec thrown out by Metcheck, that's all.

 

[dogatemysalad]

Where are people seeing this? Long range forecasts are not that reliable and while the BBC and the MetOffice are both suggesting it may get colder in December, nothing I can see suggests it will be unusually cold for the time of year.

It's been reasonably mild so far. Just today, a group of us were saying that we've hardly turned the heating on yet. Long range forecasts are little more than a lucky guess, otherwise we'd always choose the right week for our summer holidays.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Same here. Mine is out 24/7 all year round, except when the rain is so bad the fields start to suffer....then the bring in, turn out, mucking out begins I'd much rather have him out in some proper cold with soaked hay, get the weight off him and neither of us will be miserable and wading around in mud. I'm so sick of this rain.

I know the ground is just saturated at the moment I rode in part of the woods I haven't been in a while and part of it was like riding through a lake.

We need some nice crisp frosty sunny mornings ?

 

[Gloi]

The Express says this every year just to wind folk up. They have no idea.

 

[teapot]

There's a huge difference between a cold dry December and a 'beast from the east'

Bring on sunshine and frosty days, the best kind!

 

[Widgeon]

field troughs are switched off (by the farmer) as soon as we get the first frost and don't get switched back on again until next spring.

Water to the paddock is a problem, and one that I would love to solve. !

Yes....this is the biggest issue really, when it gets very cold - frozen pipes and iced over troughs in the fields. Obviously we break and remove the ice but even between us and the YO, we can't keep them ice free all the time. I tried putting a floaty ball in them but it just froze in place!

 

[Barton Bounty]

I know the ground is just saturated at the moment I rode in part of the woods I haven't been in a while and part of it was like riding through a lake.

We need some nice crisp frosty sunny mornings ?

Still haven’t had a crisp morning yet apart from last week it got down to 2 degrees. After sunday my area is meant to have a week or so of dry and sunny weather , back into double figures for the daytime and around 5/6 for night! Its definitely unusual

 

[SpotsandBays]

OH has just been looking at that forecast.

I use WD40 on all locks and the gate - plus I make sure I have a flask of boiling water in the car after having to use my coffee to defrost the gate latch last year

Every trug going gets filled up with water and I have 2 containers which can come home.

Warm rugs out of the shed so easily available

They live out anyway, but when we had beast from the east I couldn't get to the horses because there were too many crashed cars so I'll pop out extra hay in case I struggle one day.

Let me know if you’re ever stuck and I can make a wander over!

 

[AnShanDan]

This is what the Met Office says:

Friday 9 Dec - Friday 23 Dec
Confidence remains low for this period. Conditions are expected to be more settled than of late, with the potential for high pressure to be located close to the UK, at least at first. With time, however, we may see a return to frontal systems moving in from the west, with drier interludes between. Whilst temperatures may average out close to normal overall, colder conditions are possible at times, with a risk of overnight frost and fog.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

It sounds a lot better than what we have had in November.

 

[Shoei]

Lol I just want to say... this wasn't weather forecast thread, nor a doom, doom Express weather thread, it was asked for prepping ideas should we get a very cold snap. Obviously, the weather is often wrong for the next day, it was just for those of us that like to prep.... We have already had a few frosts here and I'm sure others have had harder weather and others have had mild weather, such is the demographic of the UK.

For those who are interested in where my 'source' is UK Weather Forecasts on Facebook. I've followed him for a while and whilst he isn't 100%, as no weather person is, he's generally fairly accurate. This morning he advised that all forecasting systems were showing a block to the E/NE setting up with cooler air filter in from the east later on that week.

He summarised blocking as;


When we refer to 'blocking' we are talking about areas of high pressure that develop and influence our usual westerly based pattern from the Atlantic. Blocking your usual track of Atlantic lows which typically bring mild and unsettled weather to the United Kingdom.
Blocking highs don't just set up in one place. A few examples are below;

Atlantic blocking
Where high pressure setups in the Atlantic stopping areas of low pressure directly affecting the United Kingdom. This one can be a bit of a pain when it comes to cold weather and the United Kingdom.
The reason why is because the jet stream and associated lows can still find a path around the highs, either running over the top of the high or at the bottom, depending on the jet stream profile.
But... if you can get high pressure setting up over Scandinavia at the same time it can and has delivered some rather remarkable cold spells of weather from the east and north-east.

UK blocking
High pressure sits across the United Kingdom. Atlantic lows struggle to make inroads. Not the best for cold weather really.
Generally settled, drier and crisper weather depending on how cold the upper 850hpa temperatures are.
Sometimes we can get a link up to the east and draw in colder air if the high migrates correctly (moves in the right direction) but I've seen it so many times where the cold air floods SW into Europe (SE of us) and misses us.

Greenland blocking
Located towards 'Eastern Greenland' This will allow colder polar air to surge south towards the UK.

Scandinavia high/blocking/Russian block.
The best one (which we're looking for at the moment in the model output) is high pressure developing over Scandinavia and a strong Russian high. If the block can get far enough west towards the United Kingdom, this can well and truly cut off the Atlantic sending lows way south of the United Kingdom into France and Iberia.
Cold air may then flood in from the east.
The most sustained cold spells for the UK come from periods of sustained blocking over Scandinavia & Greenland. The last such long episode was Nov/Dec 2010 some 12 years ago.
Any cold remaining in situ over the UK 10 days plus is considered a pretty long cold spell.

Anyway back to sharing tips, for those with issues of water freezing. I use pond insulation balls, you need quite a few, but they do seem to do the trick and the horses aren't bothered by them.

I also make sure my water containers have an old rug over them as they do freeze in the stables.

 

[Highmileagecob]

If you have any alcohol hand gel lying around, it will thaw frozen locks. Don't do as I did, and leave it locked in the frozen car....