How to cope when it's chilly for a billy (From Cotswold Journal)

How to cope when it's chilly for a billy

WITH weather forecasters predicting one of the severest winters for at least a decade, farmers in the Cotswolds are bracing themselves for tough times ahead in the next couple of months.

Not least among them is the owner of the Cotswold Farm Park, Adam Henson, who is well aware of the additional work a cold snap can bring.

During the winter the Farm Park, a popular local tourist attraction from spring to autumn, is mothballed and the rare breeds and other farmyard animals taken into winter quarters.

Most of the farm park's rabbits are shipped off to Hook Norton Primary School, where the children look after them for the winter.

The only animals that stay out on the farm are the hardy Soay sheep and Highland cattle.

"All the others come into sheds," says Adam.

"If there is severe weather, particularly snow, you have to give them extra fodder.

"The main concern is water. Cattle drink a lot of water and if the water troughs freeze we have to get out there with a blow torch and thaw out the standpipe," he adds.

However, though the farm park closes to visitors in winter it is still a hive of activity as far as the animals are concerned - especially on the breeding front.

"All the ewes are running with their rams as we have lambing from March 25 to May 5. We have to plan sheep mating to suit our opening time," says Adam.

"The sheds are full of goats and they are mating too. There's a lot of sex going on here in the winter. It's great!" he laughs.