Agricultural journalist, smallholder and Editor of Ferguson Heritage Magazine, Jane Brooks, joins us for her regular look at the world of agricultural machinery, or in this case just a look at life in general…
In the winter, even the smallest of jobs can take forever, particularly as the days shorten and you’re trying to work by torchlight or the dipped headlights on a vehicle. It’s at times like these our columnist’s thought’s turn to retirement or other ways of bringing home the bacon.
As the nights draw in and the hours of daylight end in what to many of us seems like the middle of the afternoon it can be a rush to finish the outdoor work before we are surrounded by darkness. It’s generally at this time of year I wonder just why we all do what we do and breathe a sigh of relief that, at the age of 65, I no longer run a livery yard, as frankly, chasing after horses in the dark has completely lost its appeal.
Nor do I miss keeping pigs, although I do miss some of the customers I had when we used to market all our own meat. In fact, I’m generally happy that nowadays, we have none of our own livestock at all and just other people’s sheep, that they actually have to do all the hard work with. No more foot trimming, dealing with maggots, urghh, or lambing.
I miss the interaction I had as a member of the NFU regional poultry board, although it’s been a few years since I went off to meetings at Uppingham. I also miss the trips to launches of new agricultural equipment and the chance to test-drive new stuff, although those are more a victim of the Covid pandemic as they have mostly gone on-line now.
I still get to do a bit of tractor driving, harrowing and rolling the fields, we also have a Christmas Tree plantation, although this year we will probably only cater to a few friends, more along the lines of a tree, a tipple and a mince pie.
But this is where my problem is, I will soon be 66 and a pensioner, my offspring seem to expect that I will gracefully retire into a world of ladies who lunch ,babysitting (which I enjoy, now and again) and somehow lose my sense of adventure, whereas I feel at a crossroads in life. In fact, I’ve almost come full circle and have thoughts of setting off to the sheep sales, buying some good old Northern Mules, a few pedigree Charolais and even a small starter herd of Valias Blacknose, squandering their inheritance. Oh, and a nice cob to ride around them on and probably break to drive. Is this normal behaviour? I do hope not.
This article extract was taken from the December 2024 edition of The Country Smallholder. To read the article in full, you can buy the issue here.
