Snow and Furrows

A delivery of hay is welcomed by livestock when snow has smothered the grass of their Welshpool fields with a cold, white blanket.

Snow falls and catches on the backs of the cattle, sheep, donkeys and ponies out in the fields of Maesmawr Hall, Welshpool. In this world turned white, the animals are glad of the Trants' deliveries of hay. Once the snow has gone, one of the horses has a good old roll, although those that are part of a ploughing team must have clean coats for the ploughing match – even the tractors taking part get a wash and brush up. Hedge-layers, armed with axes and billhooks, compete the same day.

Filmed by Ion Trant from Dovea Farm, Tipperary, Ireland, who studied agriculture in Canada and then joined the staff of the Welsh Plant Breeding Station at Aberystwyth, where he met his future wife, Janet Owen of Maesmawr Hall, Welshpool. They farmed at Maesmawr Hall and the adjoining farm, Cefn Du, and at Esgairdraenllwyn, Llaithddu, Llandrindod. Conscious of an emerging gulf between town and country, Ion welcomed school visits to his farms and also devised/filmed the Country Close-Up series for children (BBC TV 1956-62), often featuring his own 3. He was subsequently offered work as a freelance cameraman on the BBC's farming programme and others.