December 2010 has to be the coldest month I have ever known, with temperatures dropping to -17C on several nights, and hardly ever getting above freezing during the daytime.

We did, however, miss most of the snow and, judging by the pictures in the press, we got away lightly. I can only guess how some farmers have struggled to keep stock fed and watered.

All our water troughs in the beef sheds were frozen, but after a few days trying to defrost pipes we gave up and filled the troughs with a hosepipe from the farmhouse. Keeping the cold out of the potato stores is also a daily task, with midnight visits to check that heaters are working properly and temperatures are high enough.

Frost has also stopped any carrot lifting for the past three weeks and it could well have ruined what crop is left in the ground. The plan was to lift the crop before any heavy frosts, so we hadn’t strawed or earthed them up. Looking at the crop last week, the carrots actually didn’t look too bad, so we may yet salvage something from them.

Now the New Year has arrived, it is time to look forward to the year ahead. Personally, I am optimistic about the way things are looking. Grain and potato prices are better and as long as fertiliser and fuel prices don’t get much higher, bottom line figures should be pretty good.

My resolutions last year were to get fitter, lose weight and stop moaning about the weather as much. After the past year I now have two bad knees, my weight is the same (maybe) and the wife says the third one didn’t get past mid-January. Anyway, I will try again this year.