Dog tired after tough spring

Lambing and calving are drawing to an end and we have been lucky with the weather compared to the nightmare endured by many farmers earlier in the season.

I travelled from Edinburgh during the second week of April and I was horrified by the sight of so much cold, wet unsown land from the train window on my journey north. I had seen the coverage on social media of what the rest of the country had been suffering, but I was shocked to see the stark reality.

The adverse weather this spring will have hit many hard. Farmers have found themselves trying to sow crops and look after their livestock in desperate conditions which are far from ideal. And while the sun is now shining, there are still stories of forage shortages with machinery rings tying to match up supply and demand.

Although the weather has been kind for our lambing, as my mother would have said, “it was still lambing”.

A shepherding friend sent me a message saying she was creeping around with aching bones and suffering from sleep deprivation. Our bathroom windowsill is littered with antiinflammatory creams along with a variety of sports supports to relieve everything from tennis elbow through to carpal tunnel.

The collies are suffering too, with Jock on kennel rest with a suspected fractured toe. I try to vary the dogs that are out each day but they eventually succumb to the exhaustion and can be found asleep on the quad at every opportunity. The physical strains are tough, but the mental pressures can hit any of us at any time.

I’m not a great sleeper and I downloaded a calm app in an attempt to try to beat my pre-lambing insomnia. There’s nothing special about my farming worries, just the usual doubts over whether I have enough/any grass, if the singles are too thin or the twins too fat? The app helps once you get over the embarrassment of listening to a bedtime story read by Stephen Fry.

Picking up the phone to my niece and nephew and putting the world to rights is one of my best coping mechanisms. They are facing their final Higher exams this week, so are expert at dealing with pressure, having spent the past few months securing places at their chosen universities.

We all lead busy lives, but a quick text or a phone call to someone you’ve not seen or spoken to in a while may well make a big difference to both yourself and the person on the end of the phone.

Our agricultural community is great and I have never been anything less than overwhelmed by the kindness and understanding shown to me by others when things have looked bleak.

It’s OK to open up and ask for help. You may feel alone with a mountain to climb, but there will be someone else, not that far away, facing the same challenges. You may feel you’ve just gone 10 rounds in the ring with Mike Tyson this spring, but don’t suffer alone – get it off your chest.

Joyce Campbell’s collie, Sky, looking the way her owner is feeling.

Farmer’s view Joyce Campbell