LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

This was the scene across one of the potential hayfields yesterday evening ...

yes ... at last blue skies above well ripened grassland and ... a forecast of dry days ahead.

This morning, this gravestone caught my eye as rather apt for the time of year and all the months of unseasonal, wetness in different forms, from damp drizzle to storms. It's as if the hand reaching out from the stony clouds, points down,  saying "Let them make hay!"

And so the process has begun in earnest, tractors busy on all the farms cutting the long grasses, to later be turned and air dried  before eventually getting baled for storage and hopefully a good source of winter fodder for sheep and cattle alike will be saved. But, there is still shearing left to do because the wet weather has elongated the de-fleecing season. The recent weather changes have seen an increase in "fly-strike" that's when an adult blowfly lays her eggs on a sheep, given the right conditions these can turn into maggots, then adults in a mere ten days. They prefer a moist, warm environment which is what we have had recently, and an unshorn fleece is ideal. This is why shearing is so important at this time of year. Only this morning, even lambs were getting sheared due to an increase in fly strike. For our farmers it is a case of balancing priorities, which can change from day to day and means that important decisions have to be made, summer health and winter feed seem to juxtaposition for priority. It is most definitely not an easy life to lead and these hard working folk deserve better treatment by supermarket buyers and consumers. Our U.K  dairy farmers are constantly in the news at the moment for that very reason, they are being treated badly over something that is a daily part of the consumers purchases, milk! Sadly, it seems that much as many want to buy "Fair-trade" tea and coffee, they do not consider U.K milk or meat to count amongst those items in their shopping that require fair treatment of the producers, it is outrageous! No wonder that we are losing many of our farmers across U.K almost daily. Living close to our farming community as I do I can bear witness to the very long and ... unsociable hours that our farmers work. I may at times make light of the world around me, but though these folk may be tough, they constantly live on the edge of day to day decision making and it is a fine balance to get things right. It is far from the well known 9-5  job. Overtime isn't double paid and the hours are long and physically demanding. So why do they do it you may ask? Simply because they are dedicated and care deeply about the quality of their stock. No farmer wants to see his herds or arable land go to rot.
I am fed up of hearing the oft quoted phrase "You never see a poor farmer." If that was really the case, why do we see so many fall by the wayside every day? Or like most folk in this country, do they just not realise the daily losses of our guardians of the supposedly much loved British Countryside (created mostly by our Island wide farming community). But, as the title says in true Monty Pythonesque fashion, "Always look on the bright side of life." maybe one day, the contribution our hard working farmers put in will ... once again be appreciated and be seen as vital to our survival in the troubled times ahead. I hope so.