FROSTY MORNINGS bring unique problems for many Scottish farmers.

One such, Mark Smith, of Barmurrie, at Balmaclellan, near Castle Douglas, was doing his usual rounds this week on his ATV, shoogling his bag of feed to get the feisty resident bull to follow. Upon reaching the farm gate, Mark found the fastener frozen, and with the hasty arrival of said feisty bull looking likely, Mark decided that he would use what god gave him to defrost the clip.

He had to climb the gate in order to get to the right height to aim directly at the fastener and while 'mid-stream' he was wondering what he was more worried about - the bull smacking him on the backside, or freezing his defroster to the frozen gate. In the end, he managed to do the necessary and escaped with the 'crown jewels' intact.

Quick thinking though!