Mners who grew up on a (pastoral) farm...what was it like?

[00100001]

I just wonder. Bookyand media and whatnot, make it look like an idyllic childhood. Wandering around the cow shed, trying not to trip over the chickens...stray lambs in your massive kitchen next to the huge range cooker etc.

What was it really like?

@EBearhug

Where I was, YFC wasn't that fun till you were old enough to go to pubs, and we were still reliant on lifts, so I suspect a lot of it depends where you are.

Same… and it was very laddish- big overlap with rugby club culture and university Agric clubs

The pony club and local hunt did more social stuff, especially in the summer

Coming home from school to find blood everywhere after another one of dad's little accidents

My dad was a farrier and used to have accidents all the time.
One guy he shoed for was our family doctor. Proper old school country doctor. They had a deal. Dad would always find time to see to his horses and he would patch day up.

I clearly recall one day when dad had cut his hand open. He called his doctor friend who said to meet him at the cottage hospital. The doctor unlocked the hospital and we all went into a small basic consulting room. He got dad to put his hand out and stitched him up while me and mum watched!

@EBearhug

Where I was, YFC wasn't that fun till you were old enough to go to pubs, and we were still reliant on lifts, so I suspect a lot of it depends where you are.

Same here, YFC was great, and very social, but only as an older teen. I do feel nostalgic about aspects of growing up on a farm, especially lambing and bucket feeding the calves, but as pp said, there was no question, everyone had to help out, be that planting and picking potatoes, moving and checking the livestock, foddering and littering in winter.

Bloody noisy.

Great in summer - basically spent all summer riding bikes, building dens, bike ramps, playing in barns and on bales of hay. It was great having a lot of space and freedom.

shit (metaphorically and literally) in winter. Just mud everywhere. Always raining and only a few hours of daylight.

Christmas Day only really got going once all the animals were sorted and through lambing time etc we basically didn't see dad for weeks on end.

I didn't get the same sense of isolation others are describing, I would often ride my bike into the village a couple of miles away to see friends or hang around the park, or walk a couple of miles to get the bus into town.

Also... young farmers, we basically lived and breathed young farmers from the ages of 10 - 26.

I lived in a rural area though so we weren't unusual in being 'farm kids' so it seemed normal.

It was a wonderful childhood.
My Dad had to work hard, my mum had her own separate career, I think that helped. We children always had responsibilities too. Holidays were very difficult to arrange and enjoy. My dad could never relax when he was away from the farm.
The many pros outweighed the cons though.