Country diary: A troubling time for this upland farm | Andrea Meanwell

I have to keep shaking my hands to stop my fingers from freezing as I fill more buckets with water. I have nine of them in the back of my Gator four-wheel-drive vehicle, filled from the one outside tap that is working, which I then drive across the yard to put into the water troughs. This is the second day without running water in the farm buildings, and it is hard work.

I recently bought 13 young heifers and bullocks from the Galloway Cattle Society sale at Carlisle, and from two local farmers who are breeders. As these cows are new to the farm, they are kept indoors for the first couple of weeks for biosecurity. Unfortunately, this has coincided with a very cold snap, and no running water. It is amazing how much water 13 cows can drink in a day. The fact that they are eating hay indoors and not grass outside will also make them thirsty.

It has been a troubling time on our small hill farm. The younger generation recently went down to London for the farmer protests. They are very concerned about the future of upland farming, as well as the issue of inheritance tax, which my son says was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.

Farms in the area have been plunged into uncertainty by the chancellor’s budget, with the sudden and large reduction of the basic payment scheme, which was quicker than we were expecting, and the delays to environmental stewardship schemes. Our application for the sustainable farming incentive (SFI) was submitted on 4 August but the system is still “checking application” so we still don’t know whether we will be accepted. All this ultimately means not just difficulty in planning, but a reduction in revenue, and it is very hard to make any money from upland farming.

Today, however, there is no time to worry about schemes, payments or taxes. The animals must be cared for in this extreme cold snap, and fires must be kept burning in the house to keep it warm. There is a woodburner in either end of the house, the middle rooms are Baltic but the end rooms near the fire are cosy. Thank goodness we have a bedroom above one of the fires. Wet gloves and frozen hats and scarves are hung above the fire to warm up for the morning.