In your field

The weather is fantastic and it would have been great if agricultural shows, events and festivals which usually occur had been able to take place. The irony of having fantastic weather on the Easter and May Bank Holidays, when people cannot or should not be going anywhere due to lockdown is a double blow.

Why are tractors not allowed on the German autobahn? Without speed limits, a trusty tractor just cannot hold its own against gangs of lean, mean BMWs or Audis. Gaggles of tractors bouncing out onto these roads would just be sitting ducks.

Now spring has nearly passed, our mid-term report card has seen some revisions, having looked very promising at the early stages with lambing and calving going very well and spring barley establishment looking very good. We now find ourselves wondering how things turned around and became difficult.

Shearing is in full swing and the second-hand race trailer I bought is proving ideal. Even the Dorsets and Texel rams run through it with only gentle encouragement and the load on the body shearing from it is massively reduced, compared to dragging from a pen trailer.

Firstly, I would like to start by acknowledging the fantastic job Christine Ryder has done writing this column for the past five years. She is truly a hard act to follow.

As spring rolls on, so does the dry weather. And, while this has been great for lambing, the flush of grass we usually get in the back half of May which allows us to turn the cattle out won’t be happening without a little wet weather; a statement I would not have imagined saying only a couple of months ago.

It is hard to remember a better climate for lambing. We have had six weeks of warm, dry days and, just as the last few hoggs lamb down, we had last week’s welcome rain to get the grass growing ahead of demand.

It’s May 1 already. How this strange and troubled year is flying by, which is amazing given all the events and shows we had planned to visit are now just a passing thought as the dates get closer on the calendar. Very disappointing.

Why do we farm? Honestly, what’s in it for us? My sense is that only a minority of farmers farm because they chose to.

My goodness, even my relentless cheerfulness is struggling as wave after wave of bad news on Covid-19 is broadcast each hour.