1. A change in the weather

There’s nothing like change in weather around the peak working months of the summer to annoy a farmer.

The forecast is giving sunshine, with rain promised a few days later. Yet somehow the forecast was off and the rain arrives sooner rather than later.

2. Stones going through the mower

It’s summer. You’re out at the silage. You’re not blessed with a radio in the cab. Just you, the field and the grass. Then you hear the dreaded sound – a stone through the mower. Nothing worse.

3. Someone not turning on the electric fence

You come out to check the stock in the paddock where you moved them to yesterday, but the cattle aren’t in the field. Then you spot them three paddocks and a field away. In one of the fields you had set aside for silage. Instant rage.

4. Forgetting to turn on the bulk tank

There’s nothing like heading out to the parlour for the first milking after the milk lorry has been and gone, and realising that you forgot to turn the bulk tank on.

5. Cattle losing tags

It’s morning and you walk into the shed to start feeding the cattle and spot one with a deadly rip in the ear where the tag should be. As if there weren’t more important things to be doing.

6. Father/son relationships

You love your father, he’s great, but if you said black he would say white. You say put the cattle out to graze in that field, he says no, put them in that other field. It’s like the great circle of life.

7. When the sheepdog won’t listen

You paid a fortune for her, she looks the part, but she just won’t listen to you. Meanwhile the sheep have cast themselves into the wife’s garden.

8. Factory price cuts

While everything you buy is getting more expensive, beef prices are being slashed once again. Beef farmers and factories are continuing to collide, as cattle prices drop €100/head.

9. Ringing the Department

You’ve an issue with your agfood.ie account and need to call the Department of Agriculture. If you catch them on a quiet day, well and good. If they’re busy, expect to be waiting a while.

10. City cousins visiting

When city cousins make the bi-annual trip out of the nearest biggest smoke to the farm and start calling the bull a cow.

Read more

The five worst jobs on the farm

Quiz: How well do you know your grass varieties?