We’re only happy when it rains (or it doesn’t)
I GUESS I won’t be giving away any secrets by saying that farmers have a bit of a reputation for never being happy.
If we’re not complaining about all the form-filling we have to do, we can always rely on the weather to be either too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry.
With this last point in mind, I must admit I’ve found myself in a bit of quandary this past week.
For there’s absolutely no doubt that some of the grain fields sown over the past few weeks could now be doing with a wee drink to help the seeds push their heads above the ground.
Never to make the mistake of tempting weeks of endless rain though, I would have couched this in terms of “maybe needing a wee shower” of rain – and no more.
However, with lambing outdoors on the hill also under way at the moment, the very last thing I would want to do would be to risk bringing an end to what, for them, has been a wonderfully dry spell of weather.
And again I’m wary of jinxing things, but despite the usual collection of problems surrounding what is always a fraught time of year, I’d have to admit it has been a bonus not having to battle continuously with the lambs being born in the wet.
For when newborn lambs can get their wee woolly coats licked clean and dry by the ewes, get on their feet and get a good drink from their mother’s milk bar, they’re well on the way to a healthy life.
If they’re born on to a muddy, wet field, though, in the rain or sleet, it’s an uphill battle right from the start for the ewe and the shepherd to get the lambs up on their feet and latched on for that good warming drink of milk.
But while a wee bit of warmth would suit both the crops and the lambs, with the rainfall needs of the green shoots of the crops and those of the fluffy newborn lambs currently being at the opposite ends of the spectrum, there’s no real way of making me entirely happy with the weather at the moment.
And if it’s that difficult to suit one person, the chances of pleasing the entire farming industry are slim.
Perhaps the only answer might be the ability to specify not only how much rain we got but also exactly which field it would fall on – and how long it would last.
Mind you, imagine the amount of paperwork which would be involved in that...