Farming is not an occupation for the faint hearted; even the most stoical farmers I have the good fortune to know have struggled in what has until now been a thoroughly depressing spring.

The weather is the nemesis of farming. If it’s not too wet, it’s too dry, too cold, but it has been especially unkind of late.

It rained pretty much non-stop in Wales since July, rain that at times fell in biblical volumes.

Our little corner of Pembrokeshire typically enjoys a very early spring but not his year.

Fields became lakes, streams swelled to rivers. Even where standing water was absent, the ground was so soggy that farmers were unable to get on with planting their crops and graze stock.

It was a landscape saturated; to borrow a quote from William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, ‘the rain it raineth every day’.

“I really think today is the day I'm done with farming’’ posted one farmer on an online farming chat after a particularly challenging few days in early April, a month of changeable, often deceiving weather. 

Judging by the responses his post elicited, he is not alone.

Times like these highlight how important it is that farmers connect with others, whether for reassurance that they are not alone or for a pep talk on why things will eventually get better because anguish is corrosive, it drains all colour from life.

Shared camaraderie, exchanges of experiences and advice, can offer encouragement in times of despair.

Poor mental health is a big issue in farming. When the weather is calling the shots it’s not easy to muster the energy to pull on a pair of wellies and get out there to face the world.

The rain has finally stopped and given our weather-beaten farmers a break. Let’s hope the proverb ‘March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers’ delivers on that promise.