Rains come as a relief after three weeks of arctic farming conditions

FLOODING became a new threat for farmers this week, after nearly three weeks of sub-zero temperatures throughout the country.

However, rain was a welcome change for many after the weeks of frozen water supplies, slippery farmyards, crops frozen in the fields, livestock outdoors threatened by hunger and snowdrifts, and rural roads difficult to travel on.

Snow and ice have made it difficult for tankers to collect milk, and crops such as potatoes, sprouts and cabbages, cauliflowers, spring greens, and leeks were damaged as harvesting came to a halt.

Some southern areas got their first heavy snows in decades. Last week, they had the country’s lowest soil temperatures, which have set back the region’s usual early grass growth.

Recent air and soil temperatures dipped well below minus five degrees at the weather stations in Cork and Kerry.

But upland areas were hit hardest by the wintry conditions. Without enough water or feed, sheep may have starved, frozen or been smothered. However, there are no reports of structural damage, which hit farms in northern Scotland, where snow has been falling for up to a month, reaching four feet deep in places, bringing down the roofs of buildings and killing cattle.