The drought

Thing of the future, but cost of eating only really catching up with other things and oil prices, which most prices revolve around, horse keeping costs got to be budgeted as food never going down.
 
Drought- what drought?
We are swimming up here in Scotland. Our poor nags dont know whether its winter, spring or summer!! I have had four seasons in one day today what with the hailstones and howling wind!
We will be ok for hay providing the sun remembers to shine for a few weeks.!
 
Oh how I would love to send you some EB!!! Its so disheartening here just now! Howling winds that empty the wheelbarrow on route to the midden!! Have to pick what might be a dry hour to turn out our new foal and his ma ! I have never known a May like it. April was lovely here.
 
Oh Frozzy, time and again I've watched torrential rain sweeping across the Scotland and the North West but by the time it gets to us (norfolk) we get 3 raindrops and that's it! We've had no proper rain since February & the hay fields are looking like the Arizona desert. We've only been able to hack in walk for weeks due to hard ground (lots of bruised soles) and the cracks make it look more like an earthquake zone!
 
I was walking across my rock hard field tonight looking at all the burnt off grass and thinking wtf :o

Looking at the hay fields round here they are only 6 inches high and very thin looking.

Please can we have some rain, in the evenings only and not at the weekends though :)
 
Yesterday, the rain in Cumbria was so heavy, we had flash flooding....the roads started to flood and the fields turned into mud baths again.....I went in my lunch hour to get mine and the other liveries horses in and my jeans were so wet it was like they had been through the washing machine without the spin cycle. Every horse when it came in was shivering madly even though every one of them had rugs on....can we swap weather with you down south - just for a week or so? Pretty please?
 
attheponies said:
Oh Frozzy, time and again I've watched torrential rain sweeping across the Scotland and the North West but by the time it gets to us (norfolk) we get 3 raindrops and that's it! We've had no proper rain since February & the hay fields are looking like the Arizona desert. We've only been able to hack in walk for weeks due to hard ground (lots of bruised soles) and the cracks make it look more like an earthquake zone!
Click to expand...

^^ This. I think, at last though, our rain might have come. It's been raining for an hour now, no particularly heavy... but its the first sign of anything wet coming out of the sky since Feb...
 
We're having the first day of proper rain in months. I got caught out, hacking in just my Polo shirt this morning, but I didn't mind :D And all the horses went hyper, and had a crazy 20 minutes when they'd been turned out in the rain this morning - as if they'd not seen rain for months...oh wait - they havn't!
 
Its tried about 5 times to rain here today, all we get is a few small drops so that if you do flick the car wipers on, it becomes a smeary screen:( 2 mins later, its all evaporated from the damp patches.......

Got dry fields, (some grass cos no lodgers since xmas) but like attheponies, am having to hack at slow speed & its better going on the roads for an even surface rather than the concrete rutted tracks we've had on our usual hacks :(

Even the winter play paddock has only got a green covering (they were out of it in end January) but no length or substance to it........
 
Been raining on and off for weeks here in beautiful lush green Wales and the going is fabulous for all our outdoor events and our farmers are rubbing their hands together and thinking of all the money they can get off English buyers. :D;)
 
I am in staffordshire and also have had plenty of rain these last few weeks, granted heavy showers but when they come they really come, and the wind. My boy is back out in a MW at mo as he was shivering in his LW. It always seems to rain just as im about to go and ride! Typical. We will be ok for length of grass but we will have same problem as last year i think that we dont have enough of a dry spell to actually make hay.
 
frozzy said:
Drought- what drought?
We are swimming up here in Scotland. Our poor nags dont know whether its winter, spring or summer!! I have had four seasons in one day today what with the hailstones and howling wind!
We will be ok for hay providing the sun remembers to shine for a few weeks.!
Click to expand...

Exactly this! I miss the sun :( SE of Scotland here. The only thing we are missing is snow, wouldnt be surprised if i woke up to the white stuff...haha
 
We had gale force winds and hail stones here (Central/west Scotland) on Monday, trees etc falling on houses and over roads. It has been raining continusly for weeks! Thankfully my boy is on box rest and in out of these wintery conditions forgot what the sun looks like
 
and here in Cambridge, I am actually dreading going up the yard tonight to see my hippos caked in wet mud lol!
 
frozzy said:
Drought- what drought?
We are swimming up here in Scotland. Our poor nags dont know whether its winter, spring or summer!! I have had four seasons in one day today what with the hailstones and howling wind!
We will be ok for hay providing the sun remembers to shine for a few weeks.!
Click to expand...

Ha! ^^This!! Though it did manage to stay dry all morning today until I got on the horse, then it poured down!! He was not impressed!!
 
Drought?:eek: What drought? I was talking to someone this morning and she was saying how bad the ground was, so, for those of you who need it, I hope it rains on you.

Parts of the UK have got my weather (the dry parts):mad: and I would very much like it back - please.

Our last snowfall was April 18th, and since then it has been so wet that I haven't been able to get into my fields to tidy up the winter mess. Can't roll, or harrow and am still wearing wellies on a daily basis. I have grass over 2' high in hay paddocks, it could do with cutting now, but no chance of that because it will never dry :(

Over the past three days we have had torrential storms, the water table is so high that water is just lying, it has nowhere to go. Farmers have only recently been able to get onto fields to plant, and heaven knows what this will do to crops. Potatoes, we know will be in short supply as we sent tons and tons to Haiti and Japan and now they are rotting in the ground.

This is the pony paddock today, usually a dust bowl by now:
035.jpg


Yesterday, sunshine wow! This melt pond is usually growing a decent crop of hay by now :( Instead the horses are wading in it.

036-2.jpg
 
Last edited:
what drought?! here is staffs we have had plenty of rain the hay is nearly ready for cutting but no dry days in sight for it to dry, be cut then turned and baled!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top