It’s only nine months since we last had snow, and it is lying two feet deep here. Hill farmers are fretting about feed and tupping. Growing crops are out of sight and, thankfully for my neighbour, out of mind. A wheat field of his would be best kept under a blanket due to poor germination, thanks to him using seed kept since last year.

The scariest part of my day is bringing the loaded mixer wagon down from the silage pit on my way to feeding the cattle. The road is on a steep gradient and emerges onto the public road. The feeling of being in charge of a 10t articulated toboggan on the Cresta Run is terrifying.

I went to a talk recently about how farmers can exploit renewable energy opportunities. I seem to live on a farm that has the least amount of wind, the sheds all face the wrong way to fit photovoltaic solar panels, and the river at the bottom of the garden has plenty of flow, but no head, rendering it useless for a mini hydro scheme. As one speaker said, farmers must be careful to avoid destroying these opportunities, or as he put it, “giving away the goose that lays the golden egg”.

Peter “Pistol Pete” Smith, who represented Britain at curling at the recent Winter Olympics, came to speak to us at our local curling club dinner. He was an excellent speaker who also happens to be employed by Yara. I quizzed him a little about fertiliser, although that happened to be at about 2.30am and at the wrong end of a bottle of whisky, so I cannot for the life of me remember what he told me. Happy Christmas!