>> Is that really true? I suppose you mean farm labourer rather than farmer and I guess that no one wants to be farm labourer in an un-mechanised economy but I guess driving a tractor is no worse and in some ways a lot better than driving a truck .
Yes, it is true. And I mean farmer not farm labourer who is just a worker and wage slave. His life isn't what I would choose, but it's what he's used to and he isn't responsible for the whole shebang like the farmer.
Unless you've been close to it you can have no idea what it's like for farmers at lambing or calving time. Up all night with your hands up their jaxies and no rubber gloves... Then you have to find food for the bleating mooing brutes, and later on sell them on the hoof or get them topped and sell the carcases. It's fantastically hard, constant, physical and intellectual labour. You simply wouldn't do it for wages, only if you were improving the value of your land and livestock. Crops are just as bad given variable weather (which also affects livestock).
I wouldn't claim there was nothing in it for farmers. Of course there is, and if they own enough land they may be able to pay people to do all the gruelling stuff. But only if they can find trustworthy ones, geddit? No way is it simple bucolic joy and milkmaids in haystacks for amusement.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 16 Apr 14 at 19:17
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