Sarah Gibson-Brabazon, who runs sheep and sucklers with her parents and brother in Rathcontrath, Co Westmeath, said the family farm was isolated by snow drifts all day on Friday.

"We can't get out our gate," she told the Irish Farmers Journal. She said her father tried to drive the tractor through snow drawing level with the walls and hedges around the yard but had to give up. This is the family's main worry: "If something was to go wrong, we couldn't get the vet or even the neighbours to help," Sarah said.

She and her parents have otherwise coped well, keeping twin lambs and three calves alive since the start of the snowfall. They're missing help from her brother, who was travelling and wasn't able to come home before flights were cancelled.

"We have a few sheep out in the fields and getting to them is a problem," Sarah said. Inside, a lot of drinkers are frozen and the family has been moving tankers and buckets of water to keep animals hydrated.

Sarah is now hoping for a quick thaw after snow insinuated itself in the buildings and caused the animals' bedding to become very wet. "The door to our tack room was locked and when we opened it there were still two to three inches of snow inside," she said.

At one stage you couldn’t make out the wall from the snow

Martin Murphy, sheep farmer and Galway IFA’s national council representative, told the Irish Farmers Journal that there was up to 4ft of snow in his area of Turloughmore as a result of snow drifts.

“The snow drifting has been terrible. It was blowing it from the fields into the walls. At one stage you couldn’t make out the wall from the snow.

“The side roads in Turloughmore were blocked on Friday. They only got unblocked in the last few hours. I tried clearing some of them myself with the tractor and transport box, but I was going nowhere. A front loader came in eventually and helped clear them.

Snow drifts on the farm of Martin Murphy in Turloughmore, Co Galway.

“I’ve most of the ewes inside and I’ve a few outside, I’ve been feeding them every couple of hours and bringing them hay.

“The wind was blowing the snow into the shed through the cladding and in the last 24 hours my sheep were white on top. There was ferocious power in the drifts.

“It’s beginning to thaw out a bit here now and the breeze isn’t as strong as it was. It’s hard weather on stock, there’s no doubt about it.”

The only vehicles you see on the roads around here today are tractors

Meanwhile, on the border between Co Offaly and north Tipperary, Ed Roe told the Irish Farmers Journal his family had managed to keep 190 cattle in sheds fed and watered.

"The only vehicles you see on the roads around here today are tractors," he said. "There’s about 5in of snow on flat ground but you can see 8ft drifts in some places."

After walking cross-country to see cattle on an outfarm to avoid compacting snow on the roads with the tractor, Ed said he was glad to have dug out the thermals he used to wear when working in Canada.

Milk transferred to portable tank

Ed's main scare was running out of heating oil and having to drive his tractor to Roscrea to fill 11 drums.

"You can see the snow on the rooftops dripping and we’d be hoping that the thaw is setting in and the worst of the bad weather is over," he said. "Dairy farmers in the area are in a bad way though, and very worried about road conditions and milk collections."

One of Ed's neighbours has been transferring milk from his main bulk tank to a portable tank and is hoping that Arrabawn can get to Birr on Saturday where he could meet them.

Additional reporting by Amy Forde and Hannah Quinn Mulligan.

Watch: Storm Emma – 'We can't get out our gate'

Farmers in counties Westmeath, Galway and Offaly share their experience of farming through the winter storm, with access and water among the top worries on their farms.