A Norfolk cattle farmer has helped pull stranded motorists from mounting snow drifts - hours after battling freezing overnight conditions to help deliver an overdue calf.
Jeremy Buxton keeps pedigree Hereford cattle at Eves Hill Farm in Booton, near Reepham.
The new member of his herd arrived eight days late just after midnight, giving him just a couple of hours sleep before he needed to take a bull to an abattoir in Taverham early this morning - indicating the farming industry's constant need to maintain food supplies in all weather.
But on his way back, he was also called into action to drag two cars out of the snow - an unpaid extra service carried out by many farmers across the county in wintry conditions.
He urged people to stay at home if possible, and echoed Norfolk Police's advice to avoid travelling in dangerous road conditions.
"I took the tractor out this morning rather than the truck because I knew the roads would be bad," he said. "The snow has been drifting very quickly because it has been so windy as well, and people were beginning to get stuck.
"I helped two people out of the snow on the way back from Taverham, and I am sure there will be more throughout the day. I see it as part of my job. We are on a main road, so if I can help someone, I will.
"But people just seem to lose all common sense when it snows. They seem to think they have to get to work, when it would be far more sensible to just stay at home."
Mr Buxton said the wind had also been driving snow into the cattle shed where his heifer gave birth hours earlier.
"She was eight days overdue so, of course, she had to wait until it was snowing and minus two degrees before the calf arrived," he said.
"It was a first-time calving heifer, so I have been anxious for a week. But she did a great job, I just had to be there to make sure it was all OK."
Mr Buxton said the snow brought a raft of extra challenges for livestock farmers including checking on outwintered cattle in the fields, and ensuring animals have enough food and water when pipes and troughs are freezing.
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