There we were, out walking the two terriers, and we got talking to one of our farmer friends. I asked him what they were doing, 'drilling winter wheat he says', but the ground was wet and they had already had to pull tractors out that were stuck in the clarts and mud whilst avoiding the worst dips and gullies or they'd be stuck yet again.
There were three tractors working away and the farmer and another friend of his said that there was over £300,000 pounds worth of tractors at work plus all the ancillary equipment like six bladed ploughs, harrows and drilling equipment. All that, plus hundreds of litres of diesel equals frightening capital and running costs.
On other hand the winter wheat is up, growing, and three or four inches high by now. Who'd be a farmer betting against the great book keeper in the sky?
The seagulls were deliriously happy though, filling up on their ration of protein, that's worms to you and me.