Amanda Owen and her family are back on screen for a new series of Our Farm Next Door
During the latest episode of Our Farm Next Door, Amanda Owen made a sad realisation about life at Ravenseat.
Snow had hit Ravenseat Farm, and while the Owen children enjoyed playing out in it, Amanda and Clive shared their concerns about their flock.
Clive explained his worries: “January and February were funny months, and anything can happen. That Beast from the East was quite nasty, the kids were little and we had no electric for a week.”
The farmer continued: “You know, everybody gets a little bit of snow, but it can be absolutely unbelievable here, and you’ve got to be careful, otherwise it’ll have you out of business.”
Amanda chimed in: “When that snow hits, it can be exhausting. It can be exhausting mentally and physically. Day one, day two, yeah it is fun, day four, five, six, seven, and beyond, it is a real test.”
Clive went on to explain that over the years, tragedy has struck the farm, and they have lost sheep due to the amount of snow.
He said: “In my time, there have been some pretty, pretty awful occasions where we’ve lost quite a lot of sheep under snow.
“It’s so vast out there that if they’re not where you think they are, then it is a needle in a haystack.”
“In those situations, it’s good to look back in hindsight and say, ‘You know what we got through that’,” Amanda added.
“There’s this thing whereby, the worse the weather gets, you should, in theory, want to spend more time inside by the fire, but when you’re farming, you want to spend more time outside because you need to take care of the animals.”
Later in the episode, Amanda reflected on the harsh realities of farming. She said to the camera, “On a day like today, when you see that light shine through the window and you know that it’s icy and snowy out there, you don’t pull the duvet over your head; you’re like, ‘Let me at it’.”
She reflected: “Because that’s what you have to do. And I always think to myself, ‘the day that you don’t want to do that, you’ve got to quit’.”
Our Farm Next Door returns tonight and will see Amanda and her family continue the renovation work at Any John’s.
