James Herrick: Clarkson shows the ‘harrowing’ reality
James Herrick © Tim Scrivener Unless you have been living under a rock, or engulfed in the one week of summer-like weather we have recently experienced, you will know that Season 3 of Clarkson’s Farm has been released.
The show has previously been praised for finally showing some “real farming” to the masses and the new season is no different.
The episode called “Harrowing” really showed the harsh reality.
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Jeremy’s new pigs start farrowing for the first time and the higher-than-expected mortality rate visibly took its toll on him and his other half, Lisa. It really got me thinking.
As livestock farmers, we are often berated by animal rights extremists about our lack of love for our animals.
“How could you… if you loved them” is often their line of attack when trying to make their point stick. But are they not completely missing the mark?
I am obsessed with cows. I spend my days working with them, my spare time reading books about them and my evenings thinking about them.
The reverence I feel for our livestock is beyond anything people outside of farming could ever comprehend.
I may not love each individual animal in the way I would my dog or my son ((though I do have favourites), but to suggest that I don’t love them at all is simply fallacy.
There are few people who would get up early every single day to feed and bed livestock, move electric fences in the pouring rain, or willingly put their life at risk to remove the membrane from a newborn calf’s face.
Farmers are a rare and special breed of people.
Maybe it’s wrong to call it “love”. Maybe it runs deeper than that – an agape adoration and respect that can’t be understood by those who have never experienced it.
Without that feeling, whatever it may be, you simply wouldn’t, or couldn’t, do the job.
I take my hat off to Amazon and Clarkson’s Farm for bringing the grim realities of farming to households across the country and finally giving some longed-for perspective to more of the general public.