Not sure if I'd call us "farmers" - we just have an expensive hobby! We have a small property (200 acres) on which we try to run a cattle stud. i.e. we breed pedigree animals (Limousin) which hopefully get bought by other pedigree and commercial breeders to put in their herds. This reduces the number of animals that get sent off for meat.

Our cows are like family (sad, I know...). They are all named - each year has a different starting letter. 2004 was a "Z" year, so we had calves called Zevon, Zephyr (the heifer), Zenith, Zest and so on. Next year will be "A" - can't wait - the past few years of X, Y and Z have been a real challenge!

Farming is not very lucrative (and certainly not on the small amount of land we have). In order to do well here, you need thousands of acres and hundreds of breeders - we have around 20... Luckily, my husband is a jack-of-all-trades and subsidises the farming enterprise by building and renovating houses.