These are very strange times and nobody really knows when it is going to get back to normal.

With all children home schooling things are very different in most households, and it is really interesting to follow family progress on social media.

I was scrolling through Facebook last week and I came across a post by my neighbour. It was a photograph of an essay that her eight-year-old daughter had written, entitled “How to become a farmer (a sheep farmer)”.

It definitely brought a smile to my face and lifted some of the gloom.

She is a girl called Sophie Wiggins and her aunt sent a copy of the essay to the Irish Farmers Journal, and when it was put it up on Facebook it got well over one thousand likes, which is some achievement.

Sophie laid out her essay in clear steps with specific tips about overcoming problems that may come along the way. She pointed out that you need pet sheep (in other words quiet sheep - something all us farmers seem to forget), if you want to have a successful flock. She also said that you need to be strong, although I think if you are as stubborn as the sheep, then that always helps.

Easier for men

The one thing that really got me thinking was when she said was that it’s easier to be a farmer if you are a man. And she is probably right, although that’s a sad reflection of our industry.

In my opinion women make every bit as good a farmer as men, and they deserve to be given a fair chance.

I have five sisters and no brothers, and I was always expected to become the farmer – it was the done-thing at that time.

However, we have some great female farmers in the Fermanagh Grassland Club and they fully integrate themselves into activities. They are a great asset to the Club, and we would like, and encourage, more to join.

Lambing

I’m in the middle of lambing at the moment and it is hard going with not much sleep. Normally we bring in some part-time help to ease the workload and we had intended to do the same this year. But we all know that with social distancing, that can’t happen.

Last year we had a young girl, and she was great. She just loved the sheep and working with them and now has some sheep of her own now - she will make a superb “sheep farmer”.

Ideally we would have had her back this year but in these very uncertain times, we don’t want to be responsible for the spread of this virus.

It has meant that we have all had to work that bit harder, but at least the weather has been kind to us (so far).

Scanning

We are a little over halfway now and things have been going reasonably well with just one niggly issue. We got a different man to scan the sheep this year and he has missed quite a few. Out of ninety-five lambed (so far) he has been wrong in fifteen of them, which is too many. Most have had more lambs than suggested in the scan.

In these uncertain times it’s good to be a sheep farmer and hopefully Sophie Wiggins will follow her dreams. We need more like you.

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