Mrs Down's Diary

As a result, we have some very sulky cows. . . Lurking around the foldyard gates. . . Wistfully gazing across to the fields. Luckily not hungry cows as there is still quite a bit of silage to finish and plenty of big straw and hay bales.

When John bought Geoff out of the farm, he knew that he had to look to easier ways of handling areas of work single-handedly. At one time all the hay and straw was in small bales.

Took days, literally, to stack in the fields, load onto trailers, pitchfork off trailers into stacks at home and then pitchfork off the stack for use in the fold yard or stables. A lot of manual handling and aching backs.

That was until the invention of big bales. Purpose created for single-handed farmers. Or, to put it better, farmers working single-handedly. But you do need the proper equipment to handle it, so when the clutch cable goes on your tractor with the loader, you're stuffed.

John's father used to say: "It only breaks down when you're using it" which is a wise truism, if an irritating one.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette May 7