February Fury: Episode 3 – Attack of the Snow (seriously)

So, there we all were, happily feeding and watering the horses when there was an almighty hammering on the door. Someone had come to get help because the calf facility had collapsed (it’s one of those ‘poly-tunnel’ type buildings).

Russ and Adam dropped everything and went to help while Josie and I finished up in the horse barn. I left Josie doing the last bits and went to see if I could help.

The guys had cleared the half-collapsed barn of students who were trying to figure how to get the calves out - it was pretty unstable and people safety obviously comes first. Some calves from the still-standing end were moved pretty quickly to safety and then there was nothing for it but to dig all the snow from the outside of the collapsed bit and cut the poor li’l critters out through the walls.

When I got there it already looked like a well-oiled snow digging machine and I can only say what a great job Russ and Adam, Sarah (the herdswoman) and those students did. Two police officers had also arrived by snow-shoe to ‘help’ (we still haven’t worked out who called them) tho’ we’re not sure if they did much really. At least one of them had a pocket knife which was a good job after Russ’s dropped into the snow never to be seen again – kind of crucial for getting to the calves through all that sheeting. Actually, I think the guys got a little kick out of ordering the officers to ‘pass the wire cutters’, ‘pass the halter’ etc, surgery style…

So, long and tiring story short, all the calves were fine, as was everyone else except for being knackered from dashing through knee- to waist-deep snow etc. The calves were safely installed in a neighbouring barn and cosied in for the night, while we all headed back to the house for hot cocoa with a generous slug of Baileys (see pic). Mmmm.