a day in the life of


T


hey say it takes all sorts to make a world – and they’re right. The thought of watching a box set on the telly with a glass of wine bores the pants off me.


I’d much rather be feeding the calves, driving


about on the skid-steer mobile loader, checking the heifers or milking our lovely cows. I’ve lived on a farm all my life. Some of my earliest memories are of helping dad and granny – as soon as I could walk, I was pottering around the yard in kid-sized wellies and not a lot has changed since then. Farming is the type of job you wouldn’t do if


you didn’t love it. You’re there for all of the best moments but also all of the hardest moments you face as animal lovers and business owners. When there’s an awkward calving or a cow


hurts herself, you feel as emotionally invested in helping her as a nurse does with a patient. I think farmers need almost a maternal instinct towards their herd or flock to know how to help. The modern farmer is a book-keeper, vet,


salesman and buyer – and that’s before you’ve even fed the calves, cleaned out the sheds or milked the cows. My day job as a journalist couldn’t be more different. Sometimes it’s a business meeting in the city centre, or sitting in an office rushing to write copy and meet deadlines – and, of course, readers can be a little more vocal than the cows. Before I started my job as northern correspondent for farming news site AgriLand, I was working for a daily newspaper in Belfast city centre. I enjoyed the buzz of the job and it opened up


the world of writing about artisan food businesses to me. My role also involved general news reporting and chasing whatever the big story of the day was, so it brought a lot of variety too. The pace was very fast, and the standard was


12 | theJournalist


Don’t put your feet up – put your wellies on, says journalist and dairy farmer Rachel Martin


high. It was an incredible way to learn and gave me a lot of confidence for developing my career. When I tell my friends where I’m working now


they invariably smile and tell me that it’s the perfect job for me – and they’re right. I am thankful every day that I am able to incorporate the two things I love – reporting and farming – into my role as an agricultural journalist and that the two work so well together. Journalism satisfies my nosy itch – if someone’s doing something different or better, I want to know about what they’re doing and why. With my personal experience, I’m able to ask the questions farmers want the answers to. For me, it’s an excuse to be nosy and to find


out about the latest agricultural innovations and report back to our readers. If I notice something that impresses or surprises me, I can be sure my readers will want to know about it too. I love the close-knit community in the


countryside. I’m used to the farmhouse where people are always coming and going – even now, one of my favourite parts of the job is getting out to events and talking to farmers. When you sit down and chat with a group of


country folk, you’ll not be long realising they are great story-tellers with a wicked sense of humour – not all of which can be repeated in print. One of my favourite tales is about a farmer


from Co Down who allowed his so-called friends and neighbours to pay up to £100 to rip strips of hot wax off his chest after a dare in a pub got out of hand.


It wasn’t too far from where I live so I took my camera and went down for a night’s entertainment. The whole village must have turned out; the night was a great success and it raised thousands of pounds for charity. The story was picked up both in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Best of all, it highlighted some of the human side of what goes on down on the farm – something that can be hard to get across in the mainstream media. It can be hard finding time between jobs,


which is why it helps that my job is also my favourite hobby. However, don’t get me wrong – if it wasn’t for my wonderful family, there would either be a very angry editor or a herd of very hungry cows. In the last few weeks alone, I have


travelled to Kildare, Strabane, Banbridge, Mullingar, Donegal and Finland so my mum, dad and sister Heather are well


an agricultural journalist


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