Winter Weather 2016/17 - General Discussion

sryanbruen · 20-01-2017 09:42PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Maybe for you. But it wasn't here. These new farm grass varieties will really take off in growth when they get the right temperatures. But I have old grass as well it's doing very good this year too but not as well as the new varieties. But the old varieties are doing the best ever growth this year as compared to other years.

I really never witnessed a winter like this here.
(It's not over yet though).

Not just for me, for much of the UK and Ireland also. I remember the BBC reporting about the growth of daffodils in December 2011.

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:07PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Grass. You say.:pac:
A good winter for it.:D
This is the 20th January 2017. You would think it was the 20th March.

I've never witnessed a winter like this.

Sometimes we'd be lucky at my altitude to have grass like that at the start of May!!

One word of warning, 1998 was a mild winter with sunny 16C days mid February. A frost started around 8th April, it was snowing the night of the Good Friday Agreement, and all the lush green growth was burnt off and browned. That's the danger in a soft lush early growth. But shur if it's grazed now, no hassle.

pedigree 6 · 20-01-2017 10:07PM

sryanbruen wrote: »

Not just for me, for much of the UK and Ireland also. I remember the BBC reporting about the growth of daffodils in December 2011.

Right whatever.:D;)

Are you telling me my business now?;)

sryanbruen · 20-01-2017 10:09PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Right whatever.:D;)

Are you telling me my business now?;)

Not at all, just trying to show that there has been a Winter like this. But hey, I'm not going to say anything further on that point.

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:12PM

So far in Jan Oak Park Carlow is at an average 6.2C temp compared to 5.9C last year for the whole month of Jan. Not much in it. The 6.2 figure will drop with the next few nights frost but rise again from midweek.

Of course further south in Wexford where Pedigree is the temperature average must be milder again.

Harry Palmr · 20-01-2017 10:14PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Never remember a January so warm

It's certainly not the mildest but we must be heading for some sort of low rainfall record for January at one or two eastern stations.

Just looking at the BBC weekly forecast, looks like the HP might be pushed back by next weekend in England but even then the forecaster was less than emphatic! Certain most of Ireland is basically dry for a while yet.

sryanbruen · 20-01-2017 10:14PM

February does look like becoming more zonal but even then, England & Wales look like having another dry month. Every month from July-January so far has been drier than normal in them. Could this mean that England & Wales could be getting into drought conditions? The last long drought took place from January 2010 - March 2012. The last MONTH with any drought in the British Isles was supposedly April 2015, was it? The last month I remember with a drought was September 2014.

Ireland, meanwhile has recorded every month from October-January so far as drier than normal. I wonder if we could be in for a drought

. Bring on the 1974-1976 drought!!!

pedigree 6 · 20-01-2017 10:15PM

nagdefy wrote: »

So far in Jan Oak Park Carlow is at an average 6.2C temp compared to 5.9C last year for the whole month of Jan. Not much in it. The 6.2 figure will drop with the next few nights frost but rise again from midweek.

Of course further south in Wexford where Pedigree is the temperature average must be milder again.

Soil temps for grass.
I must look up Johnstown castle.
Grass grows needs 6c soil temp to start growing.

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:17PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Soil temps for grass.
I must look up Johnstown castle.

Oh yes. Of course

The old 4inch thermometer:)

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:19PM

Both Carlow and Johnstown are down as n/a for soil temp Jan 2017.

pedigree 6 · 20-01-2017 10:23PM

nagdefy wrote: »

Both Carlow and Johnstown are down as n/a for soil temp Jan 2017.

You'd really have to compare Nov and Dec since the fields were closed up to get the full picture and compare to other years.

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:25PM

Johnstown Jan 2016 soil temp was 5.6C at an air temp of 6.4C average. I know it doesn't directly correlate but air is 6.6C for Jan 2017 so far so the soil has to be around the 6C.

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:29PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

You'd really have to compare Nov and Dec since the fields were closed up to get the full picture and compare to other years.

Looking at it roughly Nov and Dec 2015 were 2 degrees warmer soil temps than Nov and Dec 2016 in Johnstown. Of course they were much wetter too.

At home we had much more grass January 2016 than this year but seriously wet. While this is a mild winter the altitude 3C difference is kicking in and it wasn't a factor last year. It was 14-15C at lower level and we were 11-12C in the daytime. So our grass growth was not much different than lower down.

ArKl0w · 20-01-2017 10:40PM

Meanwhile always a bridesmaid never a bride Ecmwf out at day 9 or 10 shows potential for a rerun of that northwesterly we had the other day
*yawn*

pedigree 6 · 20-01-2017 10:42PM

nagdefy wrote: »

Looking at it roughly Nov and Dec 2015 were 2 degrees warmer soil temps than Nov and Dec 2016 in Johnstown. Of course they were much wetter too.

At home we had much more grass January 2016 than this year but seriously wet. While this is a mild winter the altitude 3C difference is kicking in and it wasn't a factor last year. It was 14-15C at lower level and we were 11-12C in the daytime. So our grass growth was not much different than lower down.

Yea grass won't grow in waterlogged soils either. So the drier the easier for oxygen to reach the roots plus drier ground warms up quicker. More sunshine is essential too. Then ground frost too. There really is a combination of factors.

Anyway the best winter I've ever had for grass growth.:)
Or maybe i'm a top class farmer now.:D

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:42PM

16195989_10154932168355908_4585249510957684446_n.jpg?oh=89bae75afcd1c63e17a31b92b9b81cef&oe=59201AC3

Land we drained in 2001 and 15/16 years on the rushes just keep coming back. Going to reseed and put in a few more drains this year. Picture from December. A lot of work goes into making land middling decent that probably should be forested. But generations going back to the 1700s of our family have raised family there. Anything over 900ft they say should be forested and it's well over 1,000ft.

Would you like to swap Pedigree:D

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:44PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Yea grass won't grow in waterlogged soils either. So the drier the easier for oxygen to reach the roots plus drier ground warms up quicker. More sunshine is essential too. Then ground frost too. There really is a combination of factors.

Anyway the best winter I've ever had for grass growth.:)
Or maybe i'm a top class farmer now.:D

I'd say a bit of both. Your farming skills improve every year as you become more acquainted with what works best for your land and learn from all the little mistakes.

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:49PM

Of course sometimes we get some of the land into middling shape and we get pics like this from 2011. 264883_10150303183300908_6946430_n.jpg?oh=d8a106b354ff876a7121851fecb134a5&oe=59121254

264883_10150303183300908_6946430_n.jpg?oh=d8a106b354ff876a7121851fecb134a5&oe=59121254

29494_432824570907_64126_n.jpg?oh=8da4e6769317a9e0881888a9ce5bd1ac&oe=5915ACD0

pedigree 6 · 20-01-2017 10:51PM

nagdefy wrote: »

Land we drained in 2001 and 15/16 years on the rushes just keep coming back. Going to reseed and put in a few more drains this year. Picture from December. A lot of work goes into making land middling decent that probably should be forested. But generations going back to the 1700s of our family have raised family there. Anything over 900ft they say should be forested and it's well over 1,000ft.

Would you like to swap Pedigree:D

I'm only at 115m asl.
Actually that would be a challenge to me I wouldn't mind taking it on.
I get great satisfaction from that work.
You really are in a different climate though.:eek:

nagdefy · 20-01-2017 10:57PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

I'm only at 115m asl.
Actually that would be a challenge to me I wouldn't mind taking it on.
I get great satisfaction from that work.
You really are in a different climate though.:eek:

My brother is the main farmer but it is a challenge. Trying to manage the few dry fields you'd have and the wet ones is a major challenge most years, and wet ones next to impossible. I often carried stakes for fencing in my arms up to 1km as no machine would travel. You'd have a fair pair of arms after it! An ancestor reared a family of 8, with no deaths, in the 1830s and 1840s on 40 acres of the roughest land. Right through the famine, i don't know how they did it. The death rate in our hilly parish was 45% same as the worst of west of Ireland and Skibbereen.

Tigerandahalf · 20-01-2017 11:01PM

nagdefy wrote: »

Land we drained in 2001 and 15/16 years on the rushes just keep coming back. Going to reseed and put in a few more drains this year. Picture from December. A lot of work goes into making land middling decent that probably should be forested. But generations going back to the 1700s of our family have raised family there. Anything over 900ft they say should be forested and it's well over 1,000ft.

Would you like to swap Pedigree:D

Bad land rarely comes good. My father put a lot of money and work into drains but a waste of time. You would be better spending money on good rented land or acquire an acre or two of decent land. Trees are probably the best solution.

@Pedigree Bit of a risk spreading fertiliser given the possibility of frost or maybe you are close to the sea.

mickmackey1 · 20-01-2017 11:12PM

ArKl0w wrote: »

Both are higher now than Venus why isn't its light also twinkling? Presumably because it's light is a reflection?

Planets don't twinkle because their light is spread acoss their surface area which, being so close to us, appears wider. Stars however are at such a vast distance that they appear only as a point source.

Eamondomc · 20-01-2017 11:23PM

I wonder could pedigree be heading for this?
http://www.anglocelt.ie/news/farming/articles/2012/04/18/4010097-is-march-28-a-cavan-record-for-silage-cutting

pedigree 6 · 20-01-2017 11:34PM

Eamondomc wrote: »

I wonder could pedigree be heading for this?
http://www.anglocelt.ie/news/farming/articles/2012/04/18/4010097-is-march-28-a-cavan-record-for-silage-cutting

Ah no. The cows feed themselves on the grass.:D

I see air temperatures have gone to -1c in the midlands.

21-01-2017 01:13AM

nagdefy wrote: »

Of course sometimes we get some of the land into middling shape and we get pics like this from 2011.

What do you put on the turbines to get them to grow so big?

Graces7 · 21-01-2017 06:04AM

When I opened the door around 5 am the chill literally took my breath away. Clear starry sky and lazy moon lying on its back... Wind whuffling now. A day to light the fire...

Eamondomc · 21-01-2017 08:06AM

Frosty calm clear bright morning here, 0 at present. Great to be able to look at
the country at 8am again.

JCX BXC · 21-01-2017 10:38AM

Light frost, min temp +1.1c. West Clare

Can't even get a good frost!

Clonmel1000 · 21-01-2017 10:48AM

Dull overcast cold morning here temp hovering around 3 degrees. Bit disappointed having been looking out at the glorious sun of the last couple of days. Still at least it's dry and calm.

nagdefy · 21-01-2017 11:51AM

Deleted User wrote: »

What do you put on the turbines to get them to grow so big?

The old 10:10:20 seems to do the trick

Winter Weather 2016/17 - General Discussion

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