Life changes with the season, and so every day on a farm is a different day. Today we woke to pouring rain, a slower start to the morning and a change of plans, checking roofs and gutters, catching up in the shed and there is little that should distract me from the office. That being said one can stare for a long time out the office window at the gurgling gutters, the garden is overflowing with new growth, and the chatter on the UHF radio has long ago been replaced with Facebook groups and texts, but it is an important ritual to find out ‘what the neighbours had’.
Rain of course can bring with it new challenges, for those that are in flood-affected areas we are thinking of you. Flood fences will be the order of the day, and the mossies and midges will be ready for us. Of course, the power will be out, but that is par for the course and the generator is ready to be cranked up should it be a prolonged outage. The rain breathes new life and washes away the remanence of the previous season. Farming is a science, this is evident as we assess how much grass is likely to grow, how many stock on hand and how long this is likely to last, decision making becomes a careful balance of calculated risk and conservation to ensure the land is ready for the next season, whatever that may be.