As I sit and observe the state of our country and those countries near and far, now marred by the effects of climate change, I am concerned for the future of farming across our land. The supply of fresh food, milk and grain, home grown feed for cattle and hen, pigs and horses. Imported supplies will drop away as other parts of the world dry and burn. Empty shelves and rationing. I am old enough to remember living and surviving under such conditions.
We were warned about the damage to the Ozone Layer, and its repair has been tackled since 1989 and hopefully regenerated by 2045. The climate, however, has been warming up since the Industrial Revolution.
In our early teenage years, my friend Frank and I spent our summer holidays working on a farm along the banks of the River Dee on the English /Welsh border. Our main task was to cut down all the thistles growing in the meadows along by the river. We also helped out cleaning the pigsties and milking parlour, collecting the morning lay of eggs. At harvest time, we checked the bale string for tightness as the bales came off the machine. All this gave me an insight into farming and an understanding of farming life in the 1950s. It has become more challenging for farmers since then, and now our land is suffering with unpredictable seasons.
As I started to write my rhyming poems, I began with a set of three poems which I published in my POEMS BY AN OLD CODGER – BOOK ONE.
Here is one of them relating to farming. If you enjoy this poem, tell your friends and family. Better still, buy a copy of my books from AMAZON BOOKS.
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THIS TINY ISLAND – 2
Mary has a little lamb,
Its fleece worth less than a jar of jam.
Woollen mills are long forgotten,
It’s polyester now or Chinese cotton.
Harry has a herd of cattle,
But badgers really make him rattle.
Call the vet to check their necks,
Take a chair and write the cheques.
Tom has a flock of laying fowl
But he may have to throw in the towel.
He needs to check his biosecurity,
To lose his birds would be a great pity.
A farmer’s job is full of strife,
As herdsmen no longer like the life.
Indoor farming or open-air?
Is the future meat or flour?
Market prices up and down in rotation,
Trade barriers and documentation,
Land, water, and air pollution,
But technology may be the solution.
Four by Fours and quad bikes too,
Replace lost labour, now so few.
One giant combine does the job,
But it costs a jolly few “Bob”.
Many small farms swallowed up
Into ranches, will it stop?
Salvation rests on the scale of operation
And not forgetting diversification.
But when things are tough
And one thinks ‘enough’,
One loyal friend is always there,
Four legs, a tail, and an eager stare.
Copyright 2023 Neil Davies
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It’s never been easy for the farming community as I suggest in this poem. Farmers need all the support we can offer them. Hope you agree.
Stay safe, Neil.
Proceeds from the sales of my books are going to –
The British Red Cross Ukraine Appeal