Read the forecast, then work backwards from it

Winter gales rarely arrive without warning. By the time the shipping forecast is talking about gusts of 60 or 70mph, you want the heavy work already done. Give yourself two clear days of preparation rather than a frantic hour in the rain, and walk the holding with a notebook before you start. A smallholding has far more loose surfaces than a house — polytunnels, arc shelters, feed bins, gates, tarpaulins, water butts — and each one is a potential missile in a strong gust.

Start with the things that cost the most to repair if they go: roofs, gutters, drainage and stock shelter. Everything else can wait until the wind drops.

Clear gutters, downpipes and drainage first

Blocked gutters are the quiet cause of most winter storm damage. Water that should be running away instead cascades down the wall, soaks into timber, floods the yard and freezes overnight. On older stone or brick outbuildings it can work its way into the mortar and stay there for weeks.

• Clear leaves and moss by hand with gloved fingers or a gutter scoop. A blunt rake works well from ground level on single-storey buildings.
• Flush each downpipe with a hose and check the gully grate at the bottom. If water backs up, the drain is already part-blocked.
• Clear culverts and ditch ends before the ground is saturated. Once clay soil is waterlogged, it will not drain no matter how good your pipes are.
• Tie water butts to the wall or empty them down to a third. A full 200-litre butt can shift in a gust and take the downpipe with it.

Secure roofing sheets, gates and anything that can fly

Corrugated sheeting works loose at its fixings long before it lifts off. Go over the barn and stable roofs from a ladder or a safe platform and check every screw and nail. Replace rusted fixings with galvanised screws fitted with washers, and pay attention to the edge sheets, which take the most pressure.

Then work around at ground level:

• Check hinges, latches and gate posts. A gate that slams in a gale will snap a hinge or shear a post. Latch gates open against the wall or tie them back properly with baler twine rather than leaving them swinging.
• Stack pallets, hurdles, troughs and buckets flat, or move them into a shed. Loose plastic sheeting and tarpaulins act like sails.
• Park machinery on the sheltered side of a building, away from trees and overhead cables.
• Check your polytunnel. Buried skirts, sound crop bars and good tension are what keep the cover on. Plastic that is flapping in a light breeze will shred in a gale.
• Strap down beehives, weight the roofs and turn entrances away from the prevailing wind.

Store feed, bedding and fuel so they stay dry

Wet feed spoils, and spoiled feed attracts rats. Move everything onto pallets and into metal bins with clip-down lids, or lidded plastic bins inside a dry store. Check that the store door actually latches — a gale will find any gap you have ignored all year.

Hay and straw should be stacked off the ground with the top course laid to shed water, then covered with a weighted tarpaulin rather than a loose one. Keep at least three days of fuel for the generator, chainsaw and tractor, stored in a locked, ventilated shed well away from the house. Fill a spare water butt or trough as well: if the mains supply fails or the pump loses power, your animals still need to drink.

Move vulnerable animals to sheltered ground

This is the part to plan before the wind is up, not during it. Sheep and cattle are hardier than we sometimes give them credit for, but they need a hedge, wall or bank to tuck behind — and not a lone sycamore, ash or poplar, which drop limbs with depressing regularity.

• Poultry and goats: move houses and arcs to the lee of a building or hedge, weight them down and turn pop holes away from the wind. Deep, dry bedding makes a real difference to their condition over a wet, windy week.
• Ponies and donkeys: rug clipped animals and keep them on well-drained ground with a sound field shelter. If the shelter roof is suspect, bring them in rather than risk it.
• Anything housed: never shut stock into a building with a doubtful roof or a door that might blow shut. Check ventilation — a sealed barn in a storm is worse than a windy field.

The hours before, and the morning after

In the final hours, charge phones and headtorches, fill bottles of water, and move vehicles out from under trees. Do your last checks in daylight. If you rely on a pump for water, run a bath as a reserve supply.

In the morning, stay put until the worst has passed, then check the animals first and count them. Walk the boundaries for damaged fencing and displaced troughs, and look up before you walk under anything. Treat hung-up branches with real caution — a chainsaw and a lodged limb is a job for someone experienced. Take photographs of any damage while it is fresh, and report downed power lines from a safe distance rather than going near them. A well-prepared holding usually comes through a winter gale with little more than a lesson learned and a pile of branches to clear.