Cold spell brought out the best in us

WHEN former dairy farmers like myself reminisce about the good old days when we milked cows, we look back with rose-tinted glasses.

We think of the sunny days with the cows happily grazing on luscious green grass. We recall a particular high yielding cow with the same affection that another fellow might recall a Manchester United legend. But most important, we remember the milk cheque at the end of every month. Sometimes we even question why we ever stopped milking.

Conveniently, we forget the hardships of dairy farming. The milk fever, the grass tetany, the tying down element of the business and, of course, the weather.