WHAT MAKES A FARMER ?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 11, 1 October 1943, Page 3

WHAT MAKES A FARMER ?

By "Lucerne"

"What makes a farmer?" you ask. It is not so easy to answer, for, in truth, farmers are born, not made. Time was when the dunce of the family remained or went on to the land —or the Church. Nowadays many of these find their way into politics ! I believe a combination of common sense, not to say intelligence,, love of nature, the soil, animal husbandry and. courage—love of adventure, if you will —interlarded with a gift for weather lore and the ability to do many things at least moderately well, goes to make a farmer. True, many who have adopted the land as a means of securing a livelihood, not having been born with these qualifications, have "made good," mainly through a long process of trial and error, backed by the will to overcome obstacles. And this, after all, is but the recapturing of the inherent farming instinct, rooted in some past : for the land, its use and. development and man's dependence in large measure on it forrsustenance extends back to the days of Eden. Though born a farmer, a man needs common sense—judgment: the ability to distinguish between good and. poor land, seed, stock or methods. Much of this is acquirable or improved by the same toilsome process used but not born to the land. In this all are akin.

Animal husbandry., if the farmer is not simply a grower of cex'eal or other crops—and feAV indeed are devoted to such to the exclusion of all else—mainly depends on fondness and 'kindness to his stock, and that illusive something which enables him to "nick," or mate, his stock towards; improvement in the particular breed; its milking, meat or wool production, as the case may be.

With the best will in the world, however, the farmer lacking in these must needs always fail to get the best returns for his labour and capital invested. With them, again., must go ability to buy and sell stock—no mean factor in success.

Weather, too, plays a magic part in the farmer's life. On his being in some degree weather-wise may depend much of his success. The sowing of seed, the reaping of the crops, the shutting up of the hay paddock and its cutting in due course, are alike affected by the farmer's knowledge of weather lore. Though weather reports are broadcast daily, weather possibilities and. probabilities are still matters of personal deduction ; the sunrise or sunset,, the appearance of the moon,, how the wind changed, even the movements of his stock convey to the farmer facts, no radio broadcast weather re-> port can interpret so well as he.

The farmer should be something of a scientist : able to deal with soils and their deficiencies, manures and their value and suitability for his purpose—the agent is not always right!—able to erect and repair most of his farm buildings ; an engineer and electrician, to care, for and make repairs, and run his mechanical plant; able to fell timber, erect fences, lay concrete or do any similar job of the many required on his farm. And he must be something of an accountant —especially in these days.

The farmer must have courage ; courage to face not only failure of crop,, stock or weather,, but the future, with all the unknown, though perhaps suspected, variants, receding prices, war, peace political policies, lack of labour at a critical time. Yes, the farmer must have courage! But to do and have all these things to machine-like precision is not enough. The farmer must of all things be a philosopher., His it is to account for, accept and overcome, if he can, all these variants, calmly, wisely and rationally. Into all these—and fundamental, perhaps—must be woven a love of home, for a farm without a "home" is no more than a place on which to live. A farmer should also be a home lover, and to make this home,, which means more than a comfortably furnished house.