Jim Stratton
I’ve always enjoyed living in the country and being outdoors – it rather goes with the territory when you’re a farmer, I suppose, but I really do enjoy it. A couple of my hobbies – fishing and shooting – are maybe not too PC these days, but to be honest, I really don’t care. These are country pursuits that people have enjoyed for generations, and I’m not about to change my way of life to please what is – let’s face it – a mostly urban population, who often have little idea of what we actually do in the country.
We spend a lot of family holidays in Anglesey, and it gives me a chance to do a spot of sea angling. This is great fun – we have a small boat and the boys enjoy fishing for mackerel and sea bass, and you never really know what’s out there. We eat a good proportion of what I catch, which to me is how it should be. If you enjoy eating fish, you can’t disapprove of fishing.Lobsters seem to be abundant around our part of the coast so we get the chance to indulge a bit too
The wettest winter has meant the farm is in pretty soggy under foot for the time of year. My land drains poorly, and because we have had so much rain it will be a while until the cattle are outside at pasture again. Let’s hope we get a good cold spell at some time over the winter, as I really think it does the ground good.We are planning to replace the old fashioned buildings at the other farm with a modern range to house 250/300 cattle over the winter.