WHY FARMERS SHOULD TRAVEL

There’s a simple joy in looking at landscape that is not your responsibility.

A calf on the road as the bus speeds by?  Alarming, but you can hardly stop the bus to put it back.

Impressive-looking grass-fattened lambs on lush green pastures?  To be admired (and envied just a little);  inspiration maybe…. but not work.  Interesting machinery, an unusual model of wind turbine, silage being made – it’s all food for thought.

Scanning your own fields always means work.  You notice things – fences, livestock, machinery, an uneven track.   Farming is like housework – only on a massive scale.  Your chores are NEVER done; and you never really stop working – even if it’s just thinking and planning and fretting a little.

So, a trip away is just what the doctor ordered.  No responsibilities (until the phone rings, of course, and your wife tells you the cows are all on the road or in the neighbour’s garden……).