Dramatic footage shows the moment that a couple was forced to pull their sheep from a snowdrift 10ft high during Storm Arwen. 

Nev Barker and Kate, the farmers from Staffordshire spent hours searching for their lost flock after snow had fallen on their farm in Staffordshire near to The Peak District.  

Three female ewes had been so severely entrapped in an icy prison, during ‘brutal’ weather, that their husband and wife needed to quickly rescue them.

Farmers Kate and Nev Barker worked for hours to find their missing flock on Saturday, November 27, after a flurry of snow hit their Staffordshire farm near to the Peak District

Nev Barker and Kate, the farmers from Staffordshire spent hours searching for their lost flock after snow fell on their farm in Staffordshire near to The Peak District.

Dramatic footage captures the moment a married couple were forced to dig their Herdwick sheep out of a 10ft snowdrift during a snap blizzard caused by Storm Arwen

This dramatic footage shows how a married couple had to rescue their Herdwick sheep in a 10-foot snowdrift caused by Storm Arwen.

Over the weekend, temperatures plummeted down to 24.8F (-4C), as snow and ice blanketed large parts of the Midlands region and northern England. 

The shocking footage shows Nev fighting through the blizzard, desperately digging a passageway for confused sheeps to escape.

The animal is encouraged to come towards him by the man, who claps and shouts: “Come on!” But their efforts seem futile as the animal remains on its back, still slumped on his ground. 

The animal eventually emerges from the snow and walks towards the camera after several minutes. The animal’s clearly visible ice-encrusted wool indicates that it was trapped beneath the snow mountain for many hours.

Nev, 48 and Kate, are both 49 and run a smallholding close to Leek, Staffordshire. There they have 50 sheep, which they use for their breeding purposes and as wool.

Storm Arwen raked northern England last week. The couple were not concerned about the 50 Herdwick sheep they have. These are well-known for their tough nature. 

When the couple woke up Saturday morning, they discovered that only 37 of their precious four-legged prize possessions had been found after snowfall of 10 feet during the night.

In particularly shocking footage, Kev can be seen battling through a blizzard and desperately digging a hole for a confused sheep to escape through

Kev is seen fighting through the blizzard, desperately digging a passageway for confused sheeps to escape through. This footage is particularly disturbing.

They encourage the animal towards them, clapping and shouting: 'Come on, come on', but their efforts appear to be in vain as it remains slumped on the ground

They try to encourage the animal toward them with clapping and shouting: “Come on! Come on!” However, their efforts seem futile as it lies on its back, still slumped down on the ground.

When the pair woke up on Saturday morning they realised that after 10 feet of snow fell during the night, only 37 of their prize four-legged possessions were accounted for

They woke up Saturday morning to discover that after the snowstorm of the previous night had fallen 10 feet, 37 of their treasured four-legged possessions hadn’t been found.

Nev, Kate and their dog were walking through the property when they became more concerned about missing flock members.

Kate stated that the access to our fields was only thick and dense with drifts.

It was so deep that we were only sinking. Panic took over.

“We reached the sheds, and most were huddled together there.

“We excavated the rear of the shed to allow access so that the flock could have some protection from the weather and also get some water and hay.

“Your instincts just kick in.”

But some of the flock were still unaccounted for, so the pair used a crook to poke the larger snow drifts (above) looking for their sheep

Some of their flock was still missing, so they used the crook to search the snowdrifts above for them.

Nev Barker (pictured) rescues one of his Herdwick flock during the dangerous Storm Arwen conditions

Nev Barker (pictured), saves one Herdwick flock member during severe Storm Arwen conditions

Another group of rams (pictured) - only visible because of their horns poking out the top of the drifts - also had to be dug from a similar situation in a different field

A second group of rams was also dug out of similar conditions in another field. Their horns can be seen peeking through the drifts.

Some were missing so they used the crook to search the snow for them.

The three female ewes were found in an over 10 ft tall drift.

Nev reaches out to the first ewe using his naked hands and then entices her.

She was unable to get out of the igloo that she’d been trapped in for several minutes.

She huddled two more sheep behind her, and they were all taken to the sheds for recuperation. They were miraculously all healthy.

A sheep with snow-encrusted fur is rescued by Nev after getting stuck underneath 10ft high piles of snow caused by Storm Arwen

Nev saves a sheep with snow-encrusted hair after it got stuck under 10ft tall piles of snow created by Storm Arwen

Conditions did not return to normal until Tuesday, November 30 after Storm Arwen causes 10ft high snowdrifts

Conditions didn’t return to normal after storm Arwen, which caused snowdrifts 10ft tall, on Tuesday, November 30

The horns protruding from the top of the drifts made it difficult to see another group of Rams. They had to be also dug out from the same field.

Nev is now a joiner, while Kate used to be a country ranger.

Now they own the smallholding in Leek, Staffs. This is at the Peak District National Park’s edge. Over the weekend, temperatures fell to 24.8F (-4C).

Actually, it wasn’t until Tuesday, November 30, that things really began to thaw.

Nev stated that they treat their sheep as family members and wouldn’t be able to bear for them to go.

He said, “It’s almost like your dog is stuck in snow. All you need to do now is to get them out of there and check that they are okay.”

Kate said, “The conditions were terrible.”

“But miraculously they’re okay and running around the fields, like it never happened.”

After walking around their acreage Nev and Kate became increasingly worried for the missing members of the flock. Pictured: A sheep sticks its head out from under a pile of snow

Nev and Kate began to worry about the disappearance of their flock members as they walked around the acreage. Pictured: One sheep pokes its head out of the snow.

Nearly 21,000 households in Britain are now without heating as temperatures dropped overnight. Ministers have been accused of leading a national scandal during this ongoing power outage.

Storm Arwen caused wind gusts of almost 100mph to knock out power supply lines, and thousands of trees were uprooted. More than 1,000,000 homes lost their power.

Today, parts of Scotland, North East England and Cumbria are still cut off.

This morning temperatures dropped as low as Cairnwell Mountain in Scotland at -6.1C (21F), while Pershore, Worcestershire, was the coldest location lower down in the UK, dropping to -3.1C (26.4F)

Met Office has also issued an Ice Warning for Britain, with as much as 2in (5cm!) of snow forecast across Scotland and North York Moors. There have been some flakes seen even as far as London.