The A to Z of Farming

A is for arable. Farming isn’t all about animals.

B is for bales-hay, straw, silage, most farms have them stacked up somewhere.

C is for cows-whether for dairy or beef.

D is for dogs. No farm is complete without some kind of canine running around.

E is for equine. Years ago, horses did all of the heavy work in fields that tractors do now. Horses are usually for leisure these days.

F is for farmer’s wife, obviously.

G is for grass. Britain’s luscious green pastures are what keeps many animals fed.

H is for hedgerows. Did you know farmers maintain them?

I is for insects. Farmers rely on bees for pollination. Flies not so much.

J is for juggling. No day is the same on a farm. Whether it’s lambing, stowaway farm cats or milking, I love the diversity and variety in every day life.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

•catastrophe• I was driving to the local village yesterday. My mum had the boys. I was loving life with the window down. Half way there, our farm cat appeared mewing. She nearly gave me a heart attack then proceeded to get on my knee, leap through the open window, run across the road and into someone’s garden. I stopped the car, ran after the cat and managed to retrieve her from the garden by which time, passing traffic must have thought I was stealing the cat. Safely back in the car, I put the window up and continued on my way with my feline stow away. As I waited for the prescription, she set the car alarm off. It could only happen here 🙀

A post shared by Emma lander (@farmerswifeandmummy) on Sep 26, 2018 at 3:47am PDT

K is for kids. Farm kids or goat kids. Both irresistable and actually, very similar in energy and temperament. I have both.

L is for lamb. Our bread and butter and, probably the meat I cook the most. You cannot beat British, grass-fed lamb.

M is for machinery. Machines can be used for so many things. Most farmers would now be lost without them.

N is for nature. Not just wildlife but the nature of life (and death). The nature of animals which can sometimes be unpredictable. Nature is amazing.

O is for oats. Oats is one of the oldest, most simple of foods. Once used to feed horses, I feed it to my goats as well as having it for my porridge.

P is for poultry. Whether it is ducks, chickens or turkeys, I love poultry and a farm without a cockadoodle do?

Q is for quest. My quest in life is to get people to care and know where there food comes from. I think it is so important.

R is for rams. Without male sheep, there would be no lambs-you can tell we are sheep farmers.

S is for slurry. Most cow much is slurry because it is semi-liquid. Great for spreading on the land. Sheep poo is more pellet-like.

T is for tractors. What most people get excited about seeing on the road or at the farm. Are you a red, blue or green fan? Or don’t you mind? We are team red but our children love all tractors, regardless of colour.

U is for unpredictability. Whether it be weather or animals, nothing is certain in farming.

V is for vegetables. The UK grows some 3 million tonnes of vegetables, commercially every year. This is not people growing in their gardens and allotments thought so nationally, it is probable much more.

W is for wildlife. Farms are home to a massive amount of wildlife-barn owls, bats, newts, deer. If farms disappear so does a massive amount of habitat.

X is for extinct. Some people love to criticise farming-especially animals but without farmers tending to their animals, they would not survive in the wild.

Y is for yows. In some parts of the country, they refer to female sheep as a yow. We call them ewes but I love hearing them being called a yow.

Z is for zoo. My own little petting farm-zoo.