Rebekah Housden: Sometimes in farming you must forget the stats

Lambing is drawing to a close, both on the farm where I work and on the smallholding I share.

The statistics are good, with most family outfits turned out into the fields quickly, saving hours of work – not to mention the cost of bedding, fodder and extra concentrates.

Along with most of the country, we have had great weather. Most people I’ve spoken to have struggled to remember a lambing season where the conditions have been so perfect.

See also: Rebekah Housden – beer-related therapy (in moderation) can help

It feels like something that we really deserve, that we have worked hard for – like children earning a treat by doing their chores.

We have previously endured rain, then more rain, falling onto ground so saturated a new dictionary definition is needed for it.

Maybe because the weather has not been the biggest obstacle we’ve faced, or just because I’m getting older, I have found myself being that little bit more “soft” this year.

Not being pushed into a corner by factors out of our control leaves room for a little more leniency – like allowing our shearling singles to remain that way, giving them the chance to continue to grow while hopefully finishing their own lamb a little sooner than if the portions were shared.

Remembering we are human is an important part of farming, and we are allowed to have feelings.

While I mentioned statistics earlier, you would drive yourself insane if you constantly worked towards a set, ideological figure in farming.

Scanning is a good example. A lot of people (thanks to social media) like to flaunt their percentage to people who will never see their farm.

Ditto the keyboard farmers who tell us they can lamb a thousand sheep and not lose any lambs.

There isn’t a spreadsheet in the world that can match up to looking over lambs racing along a fenceline as the sun goes down.