Farming Life

I'm coming to the end of the shots from Ballymoney Agricultural Show, you may be glad to hear.  Truth be told we've been mad busy this last while and I've not been out and about with a camera much.  Plus we had a bit of a Covid scare as Missy tested positive a few weeks ago.  She was pretty sick for a few days, with a high temperature and fever in addition to the usual symptoms.  So much so that a phone call to the doctor was required, who prescribed a course of antibiotics and an inhaler.  Thankfully she improved quickly and is now pretty much back to normal, although still a little fatigued.  She did a good job of self-isolating in her bedroom and amazingly neither my wife or I went down with it.  I read somewhere that only 15% of people in England have never had Covid.  I don't know the statistic for Northern Ireland but I'm sure it's comparable - and I'm quite happy to remain in that group.

Anyway, here you go with another shot of cows and people in white coats.

The Charolais were nicely lined up for this shot - butt first.  I mentioned before about the amount of 'stuff' brought in order to get the animals in Show Condition - most of the guys are holding combs for brushing up the hides.  On the ground there's a small compressor and what looks like a vacuum cleaner.  Bags of something (feed, perhaps) and plenty of buckets and water to wash them down.  There was even a guy with a portable milking machine.  I got the impression that it wasn't just for show, but that it was needed for some of the milking cows.  I guess when they need milked, they need milked, no matter where they are.

I tried to print this one a couple of times previously, as I liked the scene but on Ilford MG Classic paper the cows disappeared into blackness and the men's coats were bleached out, so the prints were quickly filed in the wastebin.  So, another example of 'the right paper for the right negative', and Foma's MG Classic 133 Velvet did a great job.