When the bag doesn't matter

A 4 am start in a fiery dawn to whittle down wily wheat eating rabbits is worth every moment, if only for being part of the countryside while the rest of the world sleeps

- SIMON GARNHAM

Jeremy Clarkson is launching a new show in which viewers will see the challenges he faces while running his own farm. It promises eight episodes which, according to an interview with the BBC, will show that farming is ‘extraordinarily hard work’. In the interview, Mr Clarkson talks frankly about his uneasy relationship with slaughtering livestock. “You can’t say, ‘I enjoy killing animals’ — you’d have to be deranged or a sociopath — so you don’t enjoy it. But it is the business.”

That phrase, “you can’t say, ‘I enjoy killing animals’ but it is the business” gave me pause for thought. It’s the sort of sentiment used by television presenters being paid seven-figure salaries. It’s also the sort of sentiment used by organisations opposed to both the general licences and shooting in general. I would suggest it’s worth a second thought.

My father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all farmers. They were soft as the proverbial butter when it came to dogs, horses, cattle and sheep. But show them — or most farmers — a rat, a fox or a magpie and their relationship with mortality becomes very much less gentle. In the case of rats, killing them was not just fun — it was a necessity.

Succinct