Gales leave farms without power

FARMERS IN the north of England and Scotland are counting the cost of gales that have swept the region leading to flooding and power cuts.

Nick Utting, North Cumbria‘s group secretary for the NFU, said the storms had flattened a number of buildings and led to the loss of hundreds of sheep.

“The high winds have caused damage and people are without roofs on livestock buildings,” he said.

“There has also been some stock lost. A lot of sheep were grazing along the River Eden which rose tremendously quickly.”

Steve Dunning of Raisgill Hall Farm, Tebay, Cumbria said he had been without power since 6.10am on Sat (Dec 8) so he was using a generator to milk his 120 cows.

“We are managing to do the job but we can‘t cool the milk so we have to pour it away,” he said.

“But our biggest problem is that we had £1000/1500 worth of meat delivered on Friday which we were due to sell at a farmers‘ market and we are struggling to keep it chilled.

“If the electricity doesn‘t come back on we will lose that.”