Preparing for winter on your holding

eatmedrinkme

It's our first year with animals on the smallholding. We have two horses ( we rent pasture to their owner in retyrn for wood) and should habve our sheep and pigs in place before the worst weather comes.

I'm wondering what people are doing to prepare for winter on their holding?


I'll post a review of something we used last year to kick things off, below the line, but any advice, reviews or suggestions are welcome.

eatmedrinkme

Last year we picked up some snowsocks for the car (we went for the weissenfels here, and available in many places), which worked well on the car in ice, and medium snow. We were able to negotiate the hills and sideroads in the back of beyond for most of the freeze, as long as we avoided drifts, and the extra grip was noticeable - we did ice covered and snow covered hills in a 1l micra without too much trouble. That said, we still spun out, and in thicker snow, had some hairy momnents, and a couple of skids. But there's no doubt they added grip and let us get out on days when we would have been housebound without them.

Pros: not too expensive, fairly easy to use, a resonably cheap solution, effective in medium to heavyish snow and ice, easy to transport (they're fabric, so fold up well)

Cons: They need to be removed on anything that's not snow or ice, so, patchy driving conditions can drive you nuts. Can be fiddly to put on, you really need to put them on, drive for 100 yards, stop, take a look at them and adjust. And, in freezing temperatures, or a snowstorm, that can be really frustrating. You'll need to take off gloves when fitting them, and it can take a few times to get the knack.

We also picked up a pair of ice grips, these ones, and will post a review when I've tried them out. That siad, the postage in these made them basically the same price as the 9 quid ones I've been seeing in local hardware shops, so, the cheap price ion the site doesn't ework out that cheap.

At the moment, I'm curious about drinkers and watering, as we'll be overwintering the animals outdoors, as much as possible. The horse owner will be delivering a 500 litre plastic tank with tap for waterstorage, and we need to work out how to keep this from freezing, as well as thinking about freezeproof containers in the fields.

Any ideas are welcome.

LuckyPenny

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