A heads up on live stock/horses feed shortage or price hike!

[Mitsuru]

Just let you know the next 12 months are going to be hell!!!
As the bad weather has had an effect on crops, hay/straw supplies are
going to be in short supply and what will be available will be expensive!

Mother has been in a flap because of what she has been told by various
suppliers. And if she did get enough for her 2 horses for a full 12 months
she doesn't have the space to store it.

And prices are just starting to go up.
So if it starts on the livestock feed it will then start on the food we consume!

[Martin Evans]

There was something on the news about the effect of the pig crap weather on agriculture. I don't know that the weather is much worse than it has been during 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 or 2011 (I feel we are still in the Winter of 2006 - ?, as since 2006 we haven't had a summer where I live) but it is nevertheless Bl**dy awful. Whilst crap summers are nothing new, I can't remember such a run of bad weather, as we have had since 2006 and I have quite a good memory for what kind of Summers we have had I haven't even bothered to put the MGs on the road yet and based on last year, I could be better advised to wait until the end of September

I think it is time that serious efforts are put into things like http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-cha ... ngineering. It has crossed my mind that the late Osama Bin Laden would have felt his career had reached a peak, had he been able to cause a fraction of the damage caused by the recent floods and that perhaps the weather is at least as much a threat to national security, as Al Qaeda (Albeit in a different way). It is said that the Jet Stream is to blame and if so we need to include that within geoengineering.

Some may wonder whether I am a distant relative of King Canute but I would say that many new developments probably seemed like science fiction or fantasy at one time, yet such developments are now there to be seen. I doubt that I will live to see the day when we can turn on another 1976 Summer but a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. I would say that science is beyond the first step (May not more than step two or three), since as long ago as 1980, the Soviets stopped the rain over Red Square, as they didn't want it wet for the Mayday parade. I was always intrigued by that. I do however wonder whether the Met Office are up to the task; if they can't forecast the weather, how can they hope to control it

I have joked that if the EU ever became a country, they could move all the people/animals out of Britain because of the climate and use it as a rubbish dump. If the weather keeps up like this, that might not be so far fetched. It is a crying shame, as when the weather is good, in my opinion, there is nowhere better (As good or different I accept).

[TerryG]

We normally go to auction to buy hay / straw / silage. Prices aren't very different to last year so far but we do buy fairly large quantaties (120 cows to feed).
There are always warnings that the prices are going to rocket, honestly the wheat is growing like never before, the feilds are so lush you wouldn't believe it (ok they are quite boggy but the grass is growing REALLY well). I suspect someone has been scaremongering. There are problems with some produce eg brocolli that has been drowned or can't be harvested because the feilds are too wet but animal feed there is no issue so far.

[rich.]

martin britain is a great country, there are things we would like to change but cannot. you really need a break mate, treat yourself to a night in the pub at the very least!!
it could be worse, you could be living in afghanistan or zimbabwe..

[tractorman]

Certainly our little part of Cumbria hasn't been as badly affected by the floods as the rest of the country (and county!). However, the land is wet and grass hasn't even been cut for hay on many farms - it's usually about done and dusted by now! First cut silage was late and some said the crops were light, so there may be a shortage of that. However, it is hoped that the hay will get cut eventually - it may not be the best quality stuff, but will still feed cattle (with some extra "meal" perhaps!). However, as my college lecturer said many years ago, horses are freaks! OK, he was talking about feeding grass to ruminants when the "horsey" student pointed out that horses only had one stomach and ate grass. The problem is that "horse hay" may be in short supply as this year's crop may not be suitable for them.

I remember when we moved here in mid June 1983, I signed on the dole on the Monday morning (having moved to a new area) and got a phone call from a friend after lunch to see if I could spare the time to mow his first field for hay. I signed off the dole on Tuesday morning and we finished hay in the middle of July. I had just got off the trailer and into the barn to get my shirt and the skies opened up with a deluge!

Apparently the jet stream has moved further south this year - it's more or less south of Cornwall and, as usual, the cold damp air is to the north of it - ie covering the UK! Let's hope it starts moving north again before too long, or we are doomed to wet summers for a long time.

I want to move my "big" tractor from the front garden to the back, but the ground is just too wet at the moment and, believe it or not, I think it will leave deep ruts across the back lawn - even the dog's footprints show up at the moment (and she has big feet)! The field behind us should have been cut a couple of weeks ago, but I know it is wetter than our garden at the moment - and it was drained last year.

[Martin Evans]

martin britain is a great country, there are things we would like to change but cannot. you really need a break mate, treat yourself to a night in the pub at the very least!!
it could be worse, you could be living in afghanistan or zimbabwe..

I'm sure the people who have been flooded could be forgiven for thinking Britain is a wet drain of a place. Fortunately for me the weather is an irritation but as they say, no man is and island and if agriculture suffers, we will all suffer. Furthermore, insurance companies are going to want to recoup their losses, so again we could all suffer. Ironically the countries you mention are all suffering due to human activities and I wonder what it would take for the ordinary people there to say enough is enough What I am saying is that enough is enough; what can we do about it I'm certainly glad that the likes of Fleming, Pasteur or Christiaan Barnard didn't give up and go down the pub

I have just heard that the Australians and Americans have been seeding clouds to prevent rain falling over land. If we have any members from those parts, I'd be interested to know how it went

[Mitsuru]

I'm certainly glad that the likes of Fleming, Pasteur or Christiaan Barnard didn't give up and go down the pub

Two things!
1 Fleming wasn't the original discoverer of penicillin, it was noted that a Frenchman (I don't remember his name)
was watching some arab boys and men take the mould off the leather of their saddles etc and apply it to their
leg soars and cuts. He submitted a paper going into detail of the mould etc to the French academy of science,
the paper was rediscovered a few years after Fleming had rediscovered it.

2. Fleming did a lot more than go down the pub!
Fleming wasn't a tidy chap and left the remnants of some experiments out which should have been cleaned. And
he went on holiday. It was this time that allowed the mould to grow.

[Martin Evans]

Well I'm glad someone made the effort

[TerryG]

Stop watching QI and get your car running! I can't wait for the youtube vid of you taking it for it's first drive!

[Martin Evans]

It's my day off tomorrow. If it's dry I may take one or other MG for an MOT. In the meantime, here are some stills taken when I was experimenting with a small DVD camera.

In glorious weather





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