Our paddocks slope gently (well, mostly gently) down to a canal and we have good drainage, so we don't have a problem with boggy ground in wet conditions. However no-one can escape mud at the moment. This is our second winter keeping livestock and as last year the ground was frozen solid for about 4 months we were not prepared for the skid-fest conditions that met us this weekend when we tried to drive a load of hay down to our shed. I watched as my husband (looking resigned to his fate) and dog (looking alarmed) skidded out of control in the 4x4 past the shed and headed for the ditch at the bottom of the slope. Luckily he managed to steer into a post and his fall was stopped. How stupid of us to try and drive on the steepest bit of paddock in these wet conditions.
Then, of-course, is started to rain and we quickly had to drag a ton of hay in bags up the slope to the shed. Joy.
We abandoned the pick-up. We had two choices - wait for better conditions (possibly in spring?) or get our next door neighbours JCB to pull the van out and have swathes of pasture carved up as a result. However it all came good in the end as the following morning we were blessed with the first (and possibly only) hard frost of the winter. The pick-up sailed up the hill without a care in the world. Phew.
More frosts please.
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