Stan Harris was born in 1931 and has lived in north Dorset all his life. Derek and Kay Old have also lived in Dorset all their lives, and have lived on a dairy farm since the 1960s. Joe Murphy is 14 and has lived in Dorset for five years.

Agricultural Work

Farming in the 1940s was hard work. Many men and horses did the work that is now more quickly done by one man or woman on a tractor. Stan remembers when milking was done by hand. All the children on the farms, from the age of 6, would help milk the cows before and after school.

Hay would be mown by a horse-drawn harvester, piled on wagons and taken to a hay rick. Women would sit nearby sowing gloves while the men worked on the rick and the children played.

Stan thinks that, although farm work was more physically demanding than it is now, it was good fun, with a strong ‘community feel'.

Mechanised methods of harvesting swedes and mangolds (which were used as cattle fodder) are quicker and safer.

In the 1940s, cattle were walked to market by drovers; today they are carried in lorries.

Environment

Stan remembers the cows being milked in the high street of the village. There were hardly any cars, so it was safe to do so.

Stan remarks that fields are larger now. Hedges have been removed, so that the machinery can be used more efficiently.

Food

Joe’s mum buys prepared food at the supermarket. But Kay remembers the period of rationing during the war, when people would catch rabbits, pigeons, pheasants and rooks to cook and eat. Kay helped to make butter and cheese; she had to turn the handle of the butter churn.

Without refrigerators or freezers, food had to be preserved. Fruit was made into jam, and pigs (which most farms kept) were slaughtered and then salted so that the meat could be eaten throughout the winter months.

Farming and the Second World War

Kay talks about rationing during the war. Stan explains the reasons for rationing.

In the early phases of the war, German U-boats operated alone, sinking merchant ships which were sailing in convoys across the Atlantic to Britain, carrying weapons as well as food. Later the submarines began to work together in ‘wolf-packs’. However, with the invention of radar and sonar it became easier to find the submarines, and the military boats which were defending the convoys could attack them with depth charges. The battle against the U-boats was also helped by new long-distance bombers. But the German submarines nearly succeeded in cutting off all supplies from Britain, which was why it was so important for the farmers to increase food production. The government offered help to the farmers. Although farming was hard work during and after the war, the farmers felt that they were valued by the rest of the people in the country and they were able to make a good living. Stan thinks it is much harder today to make a living as a farmer.