Should I Delete That? - Rethinking farming: mental health, loneliness, and breaking boundaries… with Clarkson's Farm's Harriet

Episode Date: May 25, 2025

Harriet Cowan is not your stereotypical farmer.British farmers are under pressure and are often misunderstood. Harriet is making it her mission to change our perception of farmers and farming. Not only does this woman run two farms with her boyfriend - she also works five days a week as a nurse - we're pretty sure she's one of the hardest working people in the country.She came in to tell us all about the fascinating, relentless farming industry - what it means to take over a family farm, the pressures she and other farmers are under and the mental health impact of loneliness amongst farmers. We had a lot to learn from Harriet - she’s an incredibly passionate, driven woman - and she taught us so much about this vital industry. Follow @harrietcowan_x on InstagramYou can watch Harriet in action on series 4 of Clarkson’s Farm. The first four episodes are available now on Prime Video and the next four episodes will be released on May 30th and June 6th. JOIN US FOR OUR BIGGEST EVER LIVE SHOW - we'll be taking over Edinburgh's iconic Usher Hall for one night only on 3rd September 2025 for an evening of unfiltered chat, big laughs, and meaningful connection, live on stage. You can buy tickets at SIDTlive.com!If you'd like to get in touch, you can email us on [e-mail] Follow us on Instagram:@shouldideletethat@em_clarkson@alexlight_ldnShould I Delete That is produced by Faye LawrenceStudio Manager: Dex RoyVideo Editor: Celia GomezSocial Media Manager: Sarah EnglishMusic: Alex Andrew Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are delighted to announce our biggest live show ever. For one night only, we are taking over the iconic Edinburgh Usher Hall on the 3rd of September to bring you an unforgettable night of completely unfiltered chat, big laughs, hopefully. And meaningful connection and conversation. Our favourite part of the live shows is always that you get to meet each other, and we are so proud of the community that we've fostered here. And this night isn't just about coming to see us.

It is about meeting each other and forging new friendships. whether you're in Scotland already, or you fancy a trip to beautiful Edinburgh. This is our biggest live show ever and we would love to see you there. Check the link in the show notes or in our bios to buy tickets and secure your place in the pre-show meetup, meaning you can come alone and meet other like-minded should I delete that fans. I think I'll land my first sheep at like five. Oh my God. Because we had tiny little hands and my dad's hands are huge, so it's like...

In you go. In you go. Hello and welcome back to Should I Delete That? What do you imagine when you think of a farmer? I'm guessing it's a man in a flat cap and a Czech shirt. But our guest today, Harriet Cowan, is making it her mission to change that perception. Harriet is a farmer and also a full-time nurse. She came to tell us all about the fascinating, relentless farming industry,

what it means to take over a family farm, the pressures that she and other farmers are under, and what it's like farming with her boyfriend. Emma and I had a lot to learn from Harriet, but we loved hearing about her passion for such a vital industry and learning from her how we can support British farmers. You can watch Harriet in action on series four of Clarkson's Farm. The first four episodes are available now on Prime Video, and the next four episodes will be released on May the 30th and June the 6th. Here's Harriet. Hi, Harriet. Hi. Thank you so much for coming to talk to us. So, big week for you. Yeah.

We're going to talk to you about farming. Okay. And I feel like there might be an element in you that's like, oh, she kind of knows what we're talking about here. I don't. Okay. The extent of my farming knowledge is pretty much where it is. Well, I can help you with that. Unfortunately, I'm on the same line.

I don't really know open spaces that well. It might be allergic to grass. And I don't, before we started, I was like, what noises a sheep make? So this is going to be interesting. We're out of our depth. Okay, fine. This is farming for dummies. Okay.

Fair enough. But something that we're really excited or interested to talk to you about is the fact that you don't look like what we'd probably imagine a farmer to look like. And I think also the farmers that we're imagining are the ones in the storybooks that we're reading to our kids. It's like some old balding man in a platter. Yeah, definitely. Farmer George. Yeah. Yeah, exactly that.

And you are not that. You are. Well, I hope not. No, no, no, no, no plaid inside. High profile farming, it's exciting. Like, it is really, really cool to see the British farming industry changing and to see it getting more airtime. I think it's also really cool to see you challenging misconceptions about farmers. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

And you mentioned that in one of the episodes of the shows, but how that's what you're using TikTok for is changing people's perception, showing that it's not just young boys that are doing this or young men. Yeah, it's women, it's young girls too. Yeah, and I think that's, that was my sort of take on everything was like to sort of show that I can do it too in and like promote the fact that women are in farming I just think I think a lot of people they are there people just don't see it you know so my sort of goal was to be like yeah we are here please like recognize us as part of this industry and we can do it too yeah and like you say a lot of stereotypical farmers are men with check shirts and even like on the last series of the show when they were like it's look how diverse the farming

industries and it was just 65-year-old men in a field with chep shirts and chapples on. So, yeah, I feel like I'm definitely challenging the norm of a stereotypical farmer. Definitely. Are you met with surprise when you tell people that you're a farmer? Sometimes, yeah. I mean, definitely when I'm in a nursing uniform and then like somebody's like, oh, yeah, so where'd you live? And I'm like, oh, on a farm.

Like, yeah. And then, like, you're a farmer? And I'm like, a little, blonde little nurse. coming to do you know that's right because you're also a nurse so you're a nurse and a farm yes yes so picked two two professions definitely definitely hard profession so you don't sit down much with either of those professions no that is me throwing through like but i feel like when you're drilled in you can't relate to that good no no no no when you grow up on a farm that's like my mindset is like go go go go yeah so it's yeah we're on the go all the time you never get break

i think it's quite interesting as well because when you think about farming or when one thing And again, we don't think about farming probably enough to say it like we think about it all the time. But when one thinks of farming, it's hard to imagine that you have to do two jobs or that you do two jobs or that because also I have seen much more recently, obviously the relentlessness of farming. I think a lot of people have with the show and stuff. But you are working two jobs, which is going to be a shock to people because farming is relentless. It's day at night. It's like so much more than a nine to five in any other capacity. 100%. With that in mind, why are you also nursing?

Because, so I went into nursing because my, so I was born into the farming industry and then my dad was very much like, you know, let's farm. Like, you can do it. He's amazing. Like he fully pushed me to do, you know, go into it. You can do it because he didn't have any sons. That's me and my sister's joke. It's like, well, you didn't have a son so he sort of had to work with what you've got. So he was like, you can get on a tractor. And I do joke with him because I'm like, well, you did it to save money because you didn't have to hire somebody else to do it with you because there's a lot of things so that he needs more than just himself. So, you know, if we're doing a cutting grass and he needs someone to row up or whatever, I'll be rowing up and he'll be bailing behind me. So rowing up, bailing.

Yeah. So when they cut them, they cut the grass, I put it into rows and he goes along behind me and makes it into a bail. Which is one of the round things. Yes. Yes. Okay, cool. But they're hay bales, no? All silage.

Do they come from grass though? They start as grass, like long grass and become hay? I feel like that's very obvious but also that's massively blown my mind. So hay is grass? Hay's grass. So like your grass will grow and grow and grow and then you'll cut it

and to make hay you have to dry it out completely. So does it bail immediately and then dry it in the bay? No, you dry it on the floor. I see. So we ted it and fluff it up. Nice. And then it gets, yeah, dried from the sun and the wind. Uh-huh.

And then when it's drying off, we go along and I put it into a nice little rose. And then my dad comes along and makes it into a bale. Oh my God. Doesn't it blow away? Sometimes, yeah. Oh, there's a TikTok going around where there was a tornado. And someone had just rode it all up into really nice race. And this tornado came across and like blew it.

It was so good. See, I couldn't be a thought. Lots of reasons. But being so dependent on the weather would just devastate me. Yeah. That is my most used app on my. iPhone is the weather. Is it?

Yeah. That's every farmer. People pay, farmers pay to have a weather station so they know what the weather's going to be. What's the best weather up? Probably BBC. Oh really. Not the iPhone one.

Not that it makes any difference to me because I'll look so it goes 20 degrees. Outside. Oh yes, Sunny. So yeah, so I went into nursing because my mum then went, oh, can you please go and get a degree and not just focus on something. Like I could have gone straight into farming, but there is also not a lot of money in farming at all and like nursing's done so much for me like I've bought a house at 23 and you know got a really nice car and I can pay all my bills and that's purely because I have a job that every month

I get a good salary in from and then the farm I mean me and my boyfriend have a farm as well that takes most of our time but we don't get a paycheck out of it so it's like yeah like you say it's two jobs but one of them I'm getting a salary and a wage and I go to work from a set time to a set time and then I know after that time I'm going to have the rest of the evening to do everything I need to do on the farm. So now you're with your boyfriend, on your farm together. So I grew up on a family farm that my granddad bought and he made it into what it is.

And then my dad now took over the farm and me and my sister helped my dad. And then also James has a family farm, but me and James sort of do a lot of the farming on that now. His mum helps a lot and his dad also. but me and James do like the majority of the cows in the dragstrap. So you're farming two farms? Yeah. My dad does most of this stuff on our farm now.

So me and James sort of tend to sway towards his farm because there's so much to do. Whereas my dad's got his farm under control. If he ever needs us, he just rings us somewhere there. But day to day, we're on James's farm. And what are you farming? Beef and sheep. So cows and sheep, yeah. Okay, so you've got these two jobs, nursing farming, and like nursing is reliable.

You get a paycheck from it. Definitely. Yeah, it kind of sustain you. Is it tempting at all to, like, leave the farming side of things? Obviously, I'm really, really lucky that I got born into the farming industry. And it's a lot of people, that's one of the things that people always message me. Like, I'm not a farmer and I want to get into farming. How do we go about it?

And I'm like, oh, great question. Because I was born into it and I was very much like, I'm going to do the farm. I'm going to constantly be there and whatever. And then when I met James, that, like, tripled because his life was 100% the farm. I mean, he is a tracts mechanic as well. So he has two jobs. So his life was the farm. And if I didn't do the farm with James, I never saw him ever.

Like, so it was like, okay, to spend time together, we do the farm and that's what we do. Like, we never, we don't ever have a day off. But it's not, I don't do it because it's a job. And, you know, we're going to eventually, when we sell that cow in 18 months, we're going to get money from it. it's just because that's our life. Like, if you put me in a house where I, like, couldn't, like, I couldn't go out and I couldn't go and, you know, check my cows and feed the sheep and whatever, I'd go stir crazy.

Would you? Yeah, absolutely stir crazy. Yeah, like, even if I've not been on the farm for a couple of days, I'm like, withdrawals. Really? Yeah, yeah, definitely. Because sometimes, you know, having a house as well is a lot, isn't it, having a house and, like, having to do the washing and cooking and all of that. But it's a lifestyle, and that's every farmer will set.

tell you that like it's a lifestyle to be a farmer not i don't do it because i want money out of it do it because that's my like that is our life it's the same as i tried to explain to people at work that are like god you like you never get a break and you know you must be so tired all the time i'm like yeah i'm constantly tired but um genuinely it's like somebody going home and me going home and feeding the cows and like i don't know checking the sheep and putting bales out and scraping off that is like you guys going home and putting the washing in and making tea and washing the pots and things like that. Like I tried to explain that to work because they're always like, you know,

what kind of things when, you know, what kind of things do you have to do when you go home and all this? And I explain they're like, we're exhausted after work. So how they couldn't imagine doing anything like that. And I'm like, yeah, but it's the same, like you've not grown up doing those things. And I have. So for me, that's just my life. Like, you know, I love doing it.

Yeah. Is your sister the same? Yeah. My sister, she's just moved to a farm with her boyfriend and, yeah, they have a little smallholding and he works on a farm and she works with my dad. And she also works as a milk recorder and a farmhand at Chatsworth. Wow. Yeah. So she's up at like 4 o'clock milk recording.

What is milk recording? Yeah. Can you love her? So if you have dairy cows, you can have a milk recorder in and they test like milk yields and like how to get health promotion for your cows and. So we're like checking the cows of good health and they're getting the most milk out of them they can. And if there's anything different, they need to feed them or, you know, do differently to get more milk out of a cow. Okay. So there's no, I mean, really like it's not, as you were saying, like it's not a financial gain.

Like that's not why people are doing farming, getting into a topic, which is a tragedy because it is so many people's like livelihoods. Yeah. I mean, some people might be owning out of it. Otherwise, you know, but us personally, we don't make money. like tons of money and we're going to be like live off that forever yeah so it's it's just a labor of love it's a labor of love yeah and it's finding ways to diversify a lot of farms are diversifying now like um james's mom's just put up a shepherd's up and like people can stay and you know go and see over valley and yeah and that's lovely and that brings in money to the farm and you know

so it's like finding diversifying ways a lot of dairy farmers are i don't know if you've seen like the milk vending machines yes yeah and ice creams and like you can go and what they they you use sort of like suctions from what you'd use to milk a cow like clusters they use that

and they use it so it looks authentically like farming and you can go and it will suck a pot of ice cream up and you can buy the pot of ice cream

from the dairy farm but then like you literally walk into a little room there's a dairy near roars and they've got like an ice cream

and then his wife makes cakes and that's in a vending machine and there's milk shakes and yeah and you're on the farm and you walk in and you can go and back

like their homemade ice cream from their cows. I think it's great. Yeah, that's really, really nice. Yeah, and then they, but they charge a bit more than what you'd buy in the supermarket, but you get the experience of going to a farm and seeing the calves and which is really cute. And really important as well.

Yeah, but kids know. Yeah, where stuff comes from. Definitely. The noises that have the speaker stuff. Well, to know what a sheep sounds like. Yeah. I reckon nowadays kids probably wouldn't actually know that. But adults don't.

My son's so confused. Like, what's this? Yeah. What are you trying to be? Oh, yeah. It is exhausting, though. Like, I couldn't. I simply couldn't.

Do you never just think, no, not today? Like, I mean, I know you can't because you've got dependables and you've got like all the animals and stuff. But do you ever just think it's not worth it? Do you ever have moments of just like when it's been, like you've had a drought or it's rained all year or whatever? Sometimes a lot of farmers will say, this but if you're working in a couple and you work on a farm and you're working around

livestock the domestics like oh I bet honestly like one day I remember we were um clipping we were doing feet clipping feet um clipping feet sheep's feet you know when they're like when they start to get lame and then they need their feet trimming and their nails I can ask about this so they've got hooves yeah hoofs hoofs hooves yeah sounds weird whatever you want to Because you shaved them, right? Wait, one huff? Is that how you'd say it? It's a huff, isn't it?

Even I wouldn't know that. Like, if you just want the one... I just say hooves, yeah. What is it? Fact check, Faye. It's hoof, I think maybe they're just saying it and then... Yeah, I feel like you're just saying it

with an accent. Okay, I'm sorry. Hoof, hoof, hoof. Hoof. Sounds like a dog. Hoof, hoof, hoof. Sorry, this is just, I'm caviating. I want to get back to the domestics,

but I'm just interested because I've always thought this. When people talk about doing horses' feet, imagine it's the same thing. Was it farriers? Farriers? Farriers. Farriers. Do horse's feet. Yeah.

What are you doing to them? Well, to be fair, now there's a thing about that you're not really supposed to like trim sheep's feet unless they really, really need them because they should just wear down and they like sort of turn in on themselves so that they build a big filing them. Well, no, we just get like clippers and like big scissors and you cut around. Whoa. So it's not their nails that you're doing. I don't really have nails.

Little manny peddy. In context, yes, maybe it is a nail for a sheep. Today we're going, a nice little shalak number, A chrome. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so, yeah, so we're only way we're having this domestic because it was absolutely peeing rain and we were just like, we were drenched.

And if you've ever, probably never, but if you've touched a sheet, the lanolin on a sheep. Oil, right? Is it? It's all over yet. Is it? They're using nipple cream. Lamelin.

It is. Yeah. Oilly. It's good stuff, but it's all over you. And I'm like, we were drenched. And I was worming and there was wormer everywhere. And I was just like, does that go up there?

No, no. In the mouth, fine. Okay. Well, let me say it marginally better. Where are we going? Yeah. So, yeah, that was a nightmare. But me and my best friend, both of our, like, well, her husband and my boyfriend,

and my boyfriend, they're both farmers. And like, without her, I don't know what I'd do because we literally ring each other at nine and a car. Like, it's yours. No. It's yours. No. No. Okay.

Like, if I've been on the farm, that's. fine and then I'll seem to leave the farm and there'll be like so many jobs so I'm like okay there's just this and this to do like you've just got to feed the dogs we'll take them on the walk and then I'm like it's been two hours where I see he's like found something else to do and that's the thing in their heads they're just like a hundred times like oh I could do that oh I could do this I could do that and like what is that and then there's having all those animals it's like having 50 kids yeah and also like you never know like you could be going driving home and then someone reaching like oh the sheep have got in the garden like in my garden

and you need to come and get that. And then, like, 10 o'clock at night, you're going to get sheep out and it's dark. And I remember once we had some hailing cows that our neighbour had got into it, that someone's howling cows would come from somewhere and they'd got into their fields and we were chasing cows around for like three hours.

And they weren't even our cows. And we were like, oh. Yeah, you see, you're cut from a different cloth because I would just let them go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we were like, you can stay there. Bye. I'm like, it's not our problem than that I'm going to grab your wishes.

Like, if you wish to be free, then that's what you will be. Yeah. Who am I to stop you? Yeah. Or like something's lambing, but we have cameras now for lambing. So do you ever have like, do you ever like sit down with your boyfriend and just like chill together? Like eat together? No. Like on the trailer when it's like, oh, if you watched the farm before, it Clarkson's in the farm before and I was like, no. But it was and it looked so fake, but it was so real because we have, we don't watch telly. That was my next question.

Like literally, if we watch something, then James will literally sit down. will hit the back of the sofa and he'll be like asleep because he the second he can rest he'll sleep because he's so tired all the time but are you not well yeah but I feel like I just power through just keep going and I'm like if I'm watching oh um say we go to bed at like 11 and like normally we're up like six depending on with the lamin if we're lambing we're up every two hours like we'll have a camera and we'll we'll go to bed at like 12 and then we'll be up at two four six and then go oh it's like having a baby it's a nightmare line oh it's like having loads of babies.

But this year we got a caravan. We stayed in one of our friends calls them a lambulence. That is so cute. Guess. That is so cute. We basically stay in the lambulence and I'm such a light sleeper and the sheep all night. We're in the sheep shed with the sheep. And all night they were just like, when one's lamb in, they just start to scream their heads off.

And I was like. Wait, so when one gives birth, the rest of them scream. No, this one. Yeah, they're like, they're like, cool. Come quick, come quick. It's like, you're the handmade stale when one handmaid his birth and the other stands around chanting. Yeah, because they're all like, that's going to be me in a couple of days.

No, yeah, so that one will start screaming. And then I'm like, I like, roll over us. James, one of the sheep's going to give birth now. And then he was like, no, surely not. And he's like fast asleep. Like, James, the sheep, it's definitely alarming. I'm going to check the camera. I look on the camera and I'm like, yeah.

We normally give them so much time to just let themselves do what they need to We like them to lamb on their own. And then all of a sudden, you heard a tiny little bleat like me. And I'm like, slammed. That's so sweet. Do you not need a vet for the birth? No, no. I feel like that was a stupid.

Oh, really? No. Oh, you know. Oh, if you say this to a phone, they'd be like, God, that bill would be expensive. Oh, really, really, yeah. So you just do it yourselves. Okay.

Yeah, you sort of do it yourself. Do you cut the umbilical cord? They just snaps. What? Oh wow it's not like a woman Oh I see No yeah

As the lamb comes out It just rips and that's that And then they can start walking it straight away It's so incredible Isn't it in like 10 minutes Yeah Such a better species It's so

I look at sometimes I look at Xanthi And I'm like What are you doing You're just gonna sit there For like six or eight months Yeah And then you'll get up Yeah definitely

It's kind of like Whenever I take Like it's happened with both my girls Because like now Arlo's This will be her When I have I have to concede, I have to confess, because I'm going to sound like I know what I'm talking

about, but when you came in, I asked if lambing was shaving or killing, and I didn't realize that it was perfect. So I don't know. But this is like the third things of lamb that we've, of lambs being born that I've seen in Arlo's lifetime. And every time I look at them, I'm like, you guys are growing up so fast. And then there's her, like growing up at human speed, which does seem tardy in comparison. It's lazy.

Yeah. We could go better, go faster. Yeah, there's space for improvement, I suspect. Definitely, yeah. Yeah, no, they are. They're like, all within so many minutes and it's like, and then they're straight on a tit. There's a similarity there.

Food. We all want food. It does feel, though, like, I feel as a mother, like sometimes I look at my children and I'm like, who granted this permission? Like, this seems crazy that I'm in charge of two children. Yeah. But do you not ever have moments when you're like chasing around a cow

or like helping, and I know you're a nurse, so you have to help humans in this situation. but I feel like you're doing that in an environment that's like quite clinical and there's superiors around and there's ambulances and phones but like when you're like in the middle of the night and like everything's going wrong do you not just think how the fuck have I ended up in charge here like you are in charge yeah I mean no I've never really thought about it like that it doesn't have you know you're going to hit you and I'm like oh my god I mean I'm never really thought about it like like I think in the moment you know if you were there you'd just be

like, I don't think I would though. Got to get this cough out. No, I don't think I would. I think I'd be panicking. I think I'd run backwards. I think I'd be calling people. Like, I don't think I would have any confidence. No, you're all, I think, I thank you, but I will correct you.

I would not be okay. I don't know. Maybe it's just the way that, because I've been brought up that way. I've been like, oh, you're going to lamb a sheep at like two or whatever? I think I'll land my first sheep at like five. Oh, my God. because we had tiny little hands and my dad's hands are huge

so he's like in you go in you go do you have to pull them out at five I probably didn't pull it out five which probably just went but I can't remember

in I go yeah but yeah that's like one of those like sensory things if you go to like an art tape modern or whatever

the kids fit you can always put your hands into some funny little I don't like that yeah no we pull them out yeah oh my god

wow we're different species aren't we Yeah. When you're talking about, like, your relationship and how intense your life is, it's kind of lovely that you have each other to share it with. And before that, you had your sister and your dad. And obviously, like, you haven't been necessarily, I don't know, put words in your mouth,

but you haven't been alone in what you're doing. No, yeah. But loneliness among farmers is really common. Yeah. Yeah, there's so much, yeah. I think, like I said, me personally, like, you know, it's not the fact that, yes, I do have my sister and my dad and whatnot, but it's more the fact of like day by day, if we, if say if you were like working a field all day and there's some, some fields are massive and you can be in there all day and you know, you've got to roll it or you've got to cultivate it and then you've got to go back and whatever. You've just got loads to do to this specific field. You're on your own in a tractor all day. I mean, there is a, you can call people and you can chat to people, but at the end, of the day you're on your own and a tractor cab all day and there's the radio and there's little things that can make it better but yeah i think loneliness especially like farms that aren't so much

as businesses and people working together because a lot of the jobs like say you're milking you're milking you're milking with one other person or you can be milking on your own or you know if you're checking cheap you're doing that on your own like so a lot of the time you are on your own and you know some of these i mean tractors are have do have a passenger seat but a lot of tractors are just built for one person and sit in and do like, I don't know, whatever they needed to do on that day. So you're on your own a lot of the time. And also the fact that, you know,

you can't go to a cow and be like, have a good day, you know, and talk to them and like, like you would with another human and talk about your emotions and whatnot. So I feel like that's why farmer's sort of shut off and don't talk about emotions. Like I've been bought up with a dad

that doesn't talk about his emotions at all. And again, then I met James and he's the exact same. Like they always say you go for. someone a bit like your dad, well, I did anyway, like James and my dad are very similar. They don't talk, they don't talk about their emotions, like they have no, like, they are just this closed book. And if they start talking about it, they're like, freeze up about it. And I think that's probably one of the main problems is the fact that people get lonely because they just don't talk to anyone. Like, they can go days without talking to people.

And then they've got all this pent up, like emotion and they just don't have anyone to talk to about it, which I think is like the hardest part. And like, Me personally, I'll try and talk to them about things, like talk about their day or, you know, if something goes wrong as well, like, say it might not just seem a massive issue, but like, say buy a tire bursts on your tractor or whatever, that's like £500 to a thousand pound. And that in a farmer's head, that's like, that's all I think about all day is the fact that, right, okay, so I've got another tractor, yes, but I know I've got to pay this much to have that fixed. And that would stay in like my dad and James's heads and they'd be like, that would be a worry.

and then something else would happen like one of the sheep's died and someone's, it's a constant thing like someone's ringing you like, oh, this has happened and this has happened and then it's like a built up pent of like a motion and then they just don't really talk about it and then all of a sudden it's like

the worst thing in the world and then become so depressed and like it's a massive thing and yeah, I just don't think farmers talk about it enough that these things are affecting them. It's like with nursing, you know, something can go wrong or you know a lot of the time I deal with a lot of poorly patients

and it's really, really sad and you deal with really sad families and you just have to be there and you have to be their support. And then, you know, sometimes you go home and your partner's like had a really crap day on the farm or at work or whatever and you have to then be like, you know, what's happened and try and talk it out. But a lot of the time, then the next day they have to go back and they have to do that. Whereas the next day in nursing, I go back and I'm like, it's a different day, you know, I'm going to go and see a different patient. It's a completely different scenario. I'm out of that. whereas they go back to that same farm

and they still have that same problem and you know everything costs money everything's like a worry all the time like you said with the weather it's like every morning me and James wake up we look out of the window and we're like sunny again you know we have no grass that's like you yeah

yeah we have no grass and like to like you guys it might not seem a massive issue like the fact that the grass isn't growing but to us the sheep haven't got any food you know the cows we make we make haying silage in summer for the cows in winter and at the minute like there's no grass anywhere so the cows haven't got food now because they're outside on the grass but there's no

grass growing for them to feed them in winter there's no grass for the sheep like there's they like that is a massive worry and you see like that's a constant thing in a farmer's head like it doesn't go away when you get home because often your home is that farm you know you look outside all the time and it's like it's not raining you know and it doesn't seem like anything does it but to a farmer it's a massive thing yeah and something that's like totally outside of their control yeah completely all of it sounds really really difficult yeah it sounds like it's a it's quite brutal yeah definitely it is brutal and i think that's the thing that i like i think the public are a lot more open to it now like they're there's so much more understanding

and and there's a lot about like oh if the farmer's ever talking about the weather buying a pint or whatever because like that's like their hardship and whatnot but a lot of people like a day to day job you'd go home and you'd forget about it and leave work at work whereas we're constantly on the farm and you're like constantly reminded of everything like all the time like yes okay it's like we come home i laughed about this for james but we come home and we'll watch farming on the telly after we've been farming all day yeah he's obsessed with like watching youtube of other farmers farming and seeing what they have to do. We really like this guy in Scotland called Crawford's Farm

and we like love the difference of like England and Scotland and like watching the difference between because they have grass and they have rain and this is so cool. Listen to you speak though it is. It does make you realise because the like the temperamental nature of it like you can have one bad year and it can set and I think there has just been this I don't know if it's like a lack of interest. I don't know why, but there has been huge misconceptions about farming and it does feel that

individual farmers get really lost within it, which is such a shame because the mental health element and the loneliness element will only be compounded by the fact that people feel misunderstood or isolated, which feels, it feels like a tragedy because the industry is only getting harder to navigate, like, you know, there's obviously, it's been in the news a lot over the last year or so, like British farming is, it's not dying. Dying. It's a dying industry. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I think it's hard. I mean, at the minute, there's been some major wins, especially at, like, markets, because cow, like, cattle prices has gone through the roof. Crazy. Like, it's been so good for cattle prices. But then now they're talking about bringing all

this meeting and like import in it and it's like it's just going to drop again so this is another thing is like you know if you like making something I don't know say like someone was making a dress they know that that dress is going to sell for this much whereas with odds with the cows it's like a constant like it's like it's all the time like so one day they could go and make I don't know 1800 pound the next time they could go and make a thousand pound and it's like you never know. How can you forecast for that? You can't, that's the thing.

And that's why everyone says, like, you know, you never know, like how much money's you're going to have. You can't ever be like, oh, yeah, I'm, you know, I'm going to sell them and they're going to make me this much money. And then I can pay for this and whatnot. You never know. Like, it could. But also, listening to you speak, it's like you realize that this is a,

this is not for the faint-hearted. Like, this is a full passion. And, like, it is a way of life that we could never understand. I don't think. Because, again, it's just really oversimplistic. thing where people say, well, if you needed the money, you could just sell a farm or whatever. But it's like, I also imagine, and I don't know, but if you're inheriting a farm, it's like quite a lot of responsibility.

I imagine if you're a young farmer inheriting it from your dad or your mom who maybe inherited it from their parents, you probably feel the weight of responsibility to like look after what you've inherited rather than letting it go. Yeah. There'll be a thing where a lot of the time, farmers don't retire. So there's a massive thing where old male farmers, they don't want to retire. they like cling on to the farm and all this and um i mean i think it's just a even my granddad like he was on the farm until like he literally couldn't be anymore he died when i was 12 and

like i vividly remember the fact that every morning he used to go and feed his chickens and like we'd walk around with him and you know he had a flat like a flat cap and a little comb over and stuff like that and i'm like that's what i remember of my granddad and he gave that to my dad like that farm to my dad, but even until the day that he died, he would still make decisions on the farm. And it's not until I think that that generation sort of actually passes away that they give up the farm. Like I know farmers that are like 80 and they're still driving around and they're still doing all their combining and their trap, like, you know, all their haymaking and everything. Because it's like you said, it's a lifestyle and you do feel like

you're responsible then for that farm. But they're very, it's not like you'd retire from a business and then give it to somebody else, they're very much still a massive part of the farm, from my experience anyway. Like, I can't speak for everyone, but yeah, for my experience, like farmers, the farmers till they die and that's that.

And I think that's the way that, you know, like I said to James the other day, like, oh, do you think we'll farm forever? And he was like, just because, you know, it's just like a conversation. I'm always like that. And then he's like, yeah, I think we'll farm until the day we die and then we'll be buried and here and then like, that's it.

Like, you know, our family will have this and whatnot. And I think that was a massive worry is that you can have all these kids and not one of them could be interested in farming, can they? And like that's a lot of farmers around me. They have had, you know, children and they're not interested in it at all. And then they sort of think, okay, well, what am I doing this for now? Because it is like you say, it's an inheritance thing and you then inherit a farm. You give that farm to your children and then they give it to their children. And it's like, my grand, like, that's a three-generation farm, my farm.

And James's is the same. So it's like, if you have kids and they don't want anything to do with farming, and that's fine, but it's sort of a bit like, you hope they do. But also, like, I imagine, it's quite hard thing to, like, take up at a late age. Like, imagine if I was like, oh, well, if you were, I'd probably be a bigger shock if you were like, hey, I'm going to be a farmer now. Like, but watching you, like, on your TikTok or on the show or whatever, you just do stuff that would take me.

years and like instruction books as big as myself to even begin to understand yeah yeah my my dad like said before he was very much like getting the tractor and drive the tractor and like at 12 I was flat eight in bales around a field and you know like doing whatever I could is where you grab bales eight eight small little bales with your hands no with a tractor fine big hands for a 12 year olds yeah and I was doing that and then he was stuck in the trailer at 12 and like you know as soon as we could at 16 you're like on your tractor test you go and you're driving a tractor and you know it's that's just the way of I had to check myself when I was watching the show because I was like fuck it's impressive

that you're driving that tractor and then I was like no it's no more impressive just because she's a woman it's just impressive full stop you know what though this is a massive thing for me because a lot of women around me they and I'm not saying I don't there was definitely other girls out there that drive tractors because I've seen them and it's amazing and I really do like advocate for it but a lot of girls around me are her sort of girls they do a lot with livestock rather than tractors so when I'm driving down the road when I especially when I was like 17 driving a tractor and there'd be like a little old couple driving down the road and they're pulling for you and then they'd like expect to see like a man

on the tracks and then they'd go and then they're like they tap their spouse and go and they're like both staring at me like this and I'm like, Hi. But I think that's great. That's like been the best thing for me to be like, oh yeah, I'm driving a tractor, you know. And it's not, I just, it to me, it was normal until people started looking at me and going, what the heck. Yeah.

But then when I turned, how old was that, probably about 21, I got a contracting job. So I worked for somebody else that wasn't James and my dad. Because my dad does contracting for people. So he does other people's haymaking. but not on the scale that my boss, where I got my job contracting, he's a big scale contractor. And yeah, I went to Young Farmers and I met this guy and he was like, oh, my granddad's contractor.

And then one day after work he rang me, it was like, can you come rapping? And I'd bear in mind I'd done a lot of tracks driving, but I've never driven like new kit. And, you know, these rappers, they were big coom rappers that were like, what are you saying? Sorry, what's rapping? So you know the hay bales, you know, when they're covered in black wrap, that's what I'm doing. Fine.

Got it. So that's... I feel like we could have worked that out. Yeah. So when it's not a hay and it needs to ferment, it turns into like silage or hailage and I wrap it. And I got a job doing that. The contractor was like 70 year old bloke and he still goes and he's like, yeah, do you want to come and do it? And I was like, oh, yeah, because he wasn't like, no, no, you know, I'd expected him to have been like,

oh no no I need a guy you know we need a man to do it he was just like oh yeah do you want to come and you know just go and get on that tractor and take it to this field and wrap these bales and it was just like so refreshing to just be like you know and i've never experienced anyone saying no she can't she can't do it thankfully i haven't but i mean i'm sure there is girls out that have experienced it because like that is a thing but no he was like yeah just go on that and wrap all these bales and you know and and then ever since then i've just been doing it every year and it's yeah it's great and now I'm teaching um the guy that I met his girlfriend's now doing it and she's younger than me and she's like wanting to learn how to do it and like she sat with me

the other day and we wrapped all these bales and like I taught how to do it and I thought oh this is great like there's going to be another girl doing it so when did you teach her to do it when where's this time coming from I'm so confused after nursing I went normally normally you can't do hay until like afternoon when the jews out of the grass how many days a week do you nurse five you're joking you're kidding me so only just farm before you go to work and after yeah and after you get back and on the weekend every weekend like honestly i said this to james the other day i was like should we have like a day where we go and do something that's not you know because it's important as well to for both of our mental health to not just be so absorbed by the farm and

i keep saying this to people like it's fine if you have a day off the farm like you know we're human we need to have fun as well and like well the thing that probably keeps us all going is we've got quite a good little friend unit and we all go to the pub like once a week and we'll just have a beer and talk about everything and even though we talk about farming we're just talking you know it's getting it off your chest isn't it so but I did say to him the other day like should we have a weekend off because literally we've been together seven years and we've like we've been to the late district once and that's it we've never been abroad together like nothing like that can you go abroad as in like leaving the farmers are allowed to leave yeah um as in like yeah we have to

the planet really really planet yeah because he was like right well we'll go at september when haymaking season's finished but now we're not starting haymaking because there's no grass i reckon we're going to be going haymaking until like october so we probably won't go but because we were planning maybe we'll go in the end of september what happened in october that you wouldn't be able to go well i reckon haymaking would be pulled out because we're not starting it there's no grass at the minute in Derbyshire so it's going to be pulled out later i think so you just have to do it later in the year yeah yeah whenever this grass will cut and just do it yeah whenever there's like a spell of weather that's like sufficient for haymaking you're like right that's it that's the

week and we'll mow make hay while the sun shines yes yes yes the sun's been shining yeah but there's no hay there's no grass to make hay of oh so you can't make it oh there's nothing there they should put Some sort of teeth and sees in that, in that expression. It kind of simplifies it a little bit. But you mentioned on the show as well, the mental health element, again, with young farmers and not getting a holiday being a break because suicide is a really big killer for young farmers. And do you think that's a contributing factor as well that you literally can't get away from? Yeah, I think, I mean, I personally know quite a few, like in your farmers that, you know,

have had suicides in our own little young farmers and it's just I think it's the fact that men like well men and women in farming a lot of them don't talk about their mental health and you don't talk about what's all the bad things and all of this and like a farmer will go up to you and they'll be like oh yeah did you see the beef prices yeah yeah rubbish wanted like I've not made enough money and whatnot but then they won't delve any more than that but really that's like on the forefront of their mind, they're like, I'm not going to have enough money to pay for this and to pay for the corn. And you need red diesel, you know, you need the tractor needs servicing, like something goes wrong. Like, you know, one day, everything's fine. And then the next

day you wake up and the tractor's got a rainbow of error codes on your dashboard. And it's going to cost like five grand or whatever. And that's like five grand that you don't have. And you think, well, how am I going to make that money? And it's a constant thing of making money. and it's just like a vicious circle of like, yeah, like I say, they don't, like people don't talk about it. You don't, it's like a subject that we don't, you don't go up to a farmer and be like, are you actually okay? You know, like, in, in Derbyshire especially, they just be like, all right, you're right, you know, and everyone's like, yeah, yeah, you're right. And that's that. And you don't really go up and be like, are you actually, is everything actually okay?

And I think a lot of farmers just want everyone to think, yeah, my farm's fine. And like I say, with me and James, like, there's so much to do. And if you don't have the time to do something, something else falls behind. And like, that's on my list. That's on my list. And this is on my list. And I've got loads to do.

But I haven't got the time to do it. And, you know, while the sun's shining, like you say, there's certain things that need doing. Like, while the sun's shining sheep get maggots. And, you know, you need, yeah. So you're constantly checking for maggots. You've got to crow at your sheep. You've got to check their feet.

There's no grass. Like, but then you're still, you've still got cows inside that need cleaning out. You know, there's constant things all the time. that's on your forefront of your mind and I know James especially like that's his mind constantly he'll like go to bed and he'll be like I've not done this and and on a weekend we will work our asses off and he'll be like we've not got everything done that I need to get done and I'm like oh I'm exhausted after this weekend but like that's constantly on his head like on his mind and he's like I really really wanted to do this and I really wanted to do that but you know if you don't feed

the cows the cows don't get fed and that's the simple like answer you know if a sheep gets maggots you then have to deal with that straight away otherwise that sheep's going to die and like you know how you're like oh yeah i'm i really wanted to like paint a wall at home or something and like nothing's gonna happen if i don't paint that wall but whereas it's like with us it's like if that sheep gets maggots that's it like they die like they can die within two days so it's like you've constantly got something it's high level anxiety it's constant like so i think that's a massive thing for farmers is the fact that like they don't ask for help either that's a huge thing like no farmer will we'll go, I'm really, really struggling. I've got so much on, I need help. And, like, thankfully with our little group, we've got, James has got some great friends and he'll message, they'll message me. And they'll be like, look, James says he's fine, but do, does he need help with anything? Like, can we do anything to help you on the farm?

And they did. And like a few days ago, Matt and Ted came and they helped us and they, we wanted to go through all the lamps because the lamps were just dropping dead. And it's like, that is sheep for you, as Caleb said. Sheep just die and whatnot. But yeah, they were just dropping down. And we were like, well, we've worn them. with crowback them.

There's nothing wrong with them. They've been vaccinated. What is going wrong? And it turns out there's new worm that's come out. And it's like immune to the wormer. So we have to get new wormer. And that meant you had to get 200 sheep in. You had to pick every lamb up and put a dose of wormer in its mouth and check its feet.

And it's just a constant cycle where you're like trying to keep on top of jobs. And like I say, they don't ask for help with anything. So like my thing is just like, just say because like there'll be people there that want to help you and there'll be other farmers that are like oh i've not got as much art and i can go and help this farmer and i think it's a great community where it's like everyone wants to help everyone you know yeah and that's it you need a community you do yeah um and it's not like i'm always like well it's not the worst thing to ask for help like people want to they're going to need help you know like at one point that person needs help and then then you can return the favor and

help them and you know a lot of us they don't ask for money to do it they just say oh just you can come and help me do this and whatnot um which i think's great like definitely it's like that community you need that otherwise you just sink in a ship but yeah mental health like i think i think it's just not asking for help and you know having all these worries on your head constantly i mean even like even me and like i go to work and i'm like oh my gosh like this needs doing this needs to do and they need bails like um and it's like you go home you get home and like you say sometimes like I have a lot of end of life patience as a nurse and I've had such a draining day and I've been dealing like I'm that person that the family need to be like the rock and I'll

be like their rock and then I get home and I'm like I'm absolutely exhausted and I've got to go to my second job of the day or whatever and if James is busy I'm always like I'm going to help you because I don't want him to get home at seven and then him be like there's still everything to do and he's got to do it and like said if I don't do it I don't see him so it's important for, you know, all of our family to like chipping and help and they do. And, you know, his mum and dad are great. They come in and they help and we all sort of do it as a bit of a family unit. And then, yeah, and then you can finish that even that half an hour earlier just to just chill and make tea and go to bed. I can't imagine you chilling. No, I can't. I feel succinctly like

you don't chill. No, we don't. Yeah, no, we don't really chill. No. It has been so interesting to talk to you and hear about an industry that I we know nothing about but I imagine that most of our listeners won't know anything about either or know very little about and an industry around which there are so many misconceptions if for people listening who don't know a lot about farming obviously they can see you on the show in the new series which is out but is there something that you would say to anyone listening perhaps I don't know who live in London who don't know because it's not going to be easy for everyone to be like I'm going to go become a farmer

and I don't think most of us are cut out for it to be honest but if someone wanted to support their local farm or support British farmers in general what would you like them to do?

Definitely back in I mean I'm all for this eating British meat you know we we are growing these cows and these sheep for our country to feed our country

and it does feel a bit of a kick in the teeth when you know all this meat's imported and everyone's like oh you know I've just bought these states from wherever

and this lamb from New Zealand and whatnot. And it's like, well, it's on your doorstep, you know, buy British when you can, definitely. And just be kind to your farmers, you know, they're trying their best. And I don't think people understand that, you know, they're up at 2 a.m., 5 a.m., you know, to milk their cows and check their sheep and whatnot. And they don't get home and they don't, like, have this lovely little family time where they can go home and they can just chill and forget about it. Like, they're on the go 24-7.

So just be kind to them and understand, like, they have a lot on their place. like definitely. And yeah, that's just by British and be kind to a farmer. I love that. I love that. This has been so great. Thank you so much for coming to talk to us. The new series is out now on Prime Video. Yeah. It's out now on Amazon. Yeah. Wonderful. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Should I delete that is part of the ACAS creator network.