73 Cows

Jay Wilde comes from a long line of Derbyshire cattle farmers who is not only struggling to keep his enterprise going, but he is also having to deal with a growing crisis of conscience. He just isn't happy about having to take his cows to the slaughterhouse. He knows that he has bills to pay, but together with his similarly inclined wife Katja, is determined to find some way to make his business pay it's way by other means. That's easier said than done, though, as we see right from the start with snow on the ground and the land seemingly unsuitable for any type of scalable arable farming. What might be their options? This is actually quite an intriguing short feature as the touching resolve of this single-minded man to make changes looks to be being effectively thwarted by neccessary financial imperatives and by his apparent lack of options - and yet you sense that there is a solution, and these are the pair who are going to find it. Generally speaking, it reminds us of just how tough life can be for farming communities with little by way of margins to fall back on in harder times or when they do try to adjust and bring different revenue streams to fruition. He comes across as a genuinely troubled soul but don't fear - this doesn't go all sentimental and "Bambi" on us, it is a much more practical analysis of their desires, their options and their solutions.8