21 signs that it’s Christmas on the farm

Christmas time on a farm is pretty unique. As most other people will be getting up early to unwrap gifts, farming families will more than likely be out milking, checking on livestock and pushing up silage.

Yes, we know that there’s a little while to go before the big day, but reader Emma Lander sent the Farmers Weekly team a few suggestions for how to finish the sentence: “You know it’s Christmas on the farm when…”

We also asked you on Facebook and Twitter to complete the sentence. Here’s what you guys came up with.

See also: Cracking christmas gift ideas for farmers in 2017

From Emma:

1. Farmers and other visitors who normally drop by for a gossip and a cup of tea will expect a mince pie too.

2. You wonder whether you should invest in a couple of reindeer to hire out at shopping centres, fairs and other events for next Christmas.

3. You get 37 free wall planners/calendars from your feed merchants and fertiliser reps.

4. Your kids learn that they can’t open their Christmas presents until the jobs are done and (hopefully) this helps to get them done quicker.

5. You look into growing your own Christmas trees (again) but forget to do anything about it once January comes round.

6. You have the same conversation every year – should we buy a turkey from a shop or buy poults and rear our own?

A tractor and plough made out of Christmas lights by farmer Andrew Wilkinson

7. You get more jumpers and woolly socks as presents and are more than happy with that.

8. You still try to buy your Farmers Weekly over the festive season even though you know it’s a Christmas double issue every year.

9. People ask you, in earnest, “do you still have to feed the cows/sheep/chickens/horses/pigs (delete as applicable) on Christmas Day?” Livestock need to eat on Christmas Day as well, you know.

10. Your spouse buys reindeer antlers for the sheep and puts tinsel on the chicken coop. Or is this just us?

See also: 22 things you’ll only know if you work with farmers

From Facebook:

11. The first thing you unwrap is a bale of silage. Stuart Fuller

12. The world is quiet and your the only one working. Simon Cook

13. You start pulling cars out of snow drifts with the tractor – all of a sudden everyone loves the farmer. Geoff Kim Thrower

14. Your husband showers and shaves after milking… just so he can make the kids wait that bit longer to open their presents. Charlotte Shipley

15. When you find the classic MF135 scraper is the only tractor that will reliably start at sub-zero. Richard Moon

See also: Farming family fights to beat mental health stigma

16. You are eating your Christmas dinner feeling proud that you and millions more farmers from across the world helped to get others’ Christmas dinner on their tables. And next year the struggle starts again. Danny Lamont

17. You listen to The Wurzels Christmas album while milking the cows. Jules Rolle

18. When everything starts calving. Cayley Garrard

From Twitter:

19. The Turkeys start looking nervous. Ally Hunter Blair

20. Something breaks and everyone else has finished for Christmas. @PVickerton

21. The feed supplier wants to know in early November how much feed you want delivered in the new year. @aksteele69