THE ongoing wintry blast has meant double trouble for hard pressed sheep farmers in the snowbound Durham and Yorkshire Dales.

With lambing already underway in some parts of the dales, the freezing conditions are forcing farmers to bring their ewes inside to give birth.

And the lack of spring grass means there is no alternative but to buy in expensive feed and silage.

Hill farmer Richard Betton, who keeps 280 Swaledales at Harwood, north-west of Middleton-in-Teesdale, said: “Everything seems to have been against us over the last year.”

Mr Betton, who is also the farmers' liaison worker for Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (Utass), said this spring's weather problems come on top of last year's poor summer.

“After last summer, we needed a good early sustained spring, not just for us livestock farmers, but also for arable farms which still have to get seed in the ground," he said.

“And the higher up the dale you go, the harder the climate. Most of the fell flocks won't be lambing just yet – for me it won't be for another three or four weeks - so I hope the weather improves.”

However, lambing has begun at farms lower down the dale.

Mr Betton added: “Lambs born outside in this weather have a fairly low chance of survival, so most people are lambing inside, with every spare space taken up by ewes and lambs, which are then turned out to make space.

“Logistically, it is a bit of a nightmare.”

Once turned out, shelter from the effects of wind chill and plenty of milk are key to lambs' survival.

But a lack of spring grass means farmers are having to buy in high protein cereal cake, costing about £240 a ton, or good quality dry silage at £25-£30 a bale.

William Lambert, who farms at Raygill between Bainbridge and Hawes, in the Yorkshire Dales, said farmers had had enough.

“If the weather doesn’t change soon, people will be getting very depressed. Mentally it’s very tough to see lambs struggling to survive because of the weather.

“The trouble is it follows such an awful summer. Everyone struggled to make enough decent food for their animals and lambing time is when you need the best food.

“They’re having to use lower quality food and that’s just causing more problems.”