No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

Looked a bit on a documentary about two cow farmers (who are siblings) in their late eighties which showed their last year’s in cow farming before they needed to become pensioners

And the blurb was like “showing a old ways of life, were cows ruled our daily life, in sweden”

And I am like

Dude dude

In even in historical sweden, it was not normal that people in their late eighties were the one with the main responsibility of a cow herd. Like…. I mean the show appear to be arguing that the swedish agriculture deperment is somehow “mean and anti traditional” by telling them they gotta get a plan on what will happen with their cows when they the two farmers die and so on

Like. Caring for that the cows don’t just starve to death, if a accident kills two in their late 80s cow farmers…. Like. Thats common sense

And, also. In historical sweden. Younglings took care of the daily cow chores. Like what we today would call teenagers. Sure, a cow farmer in their 80s would visit their cows, but in the heavy tasks, youth were employed (under normal conditions).

Idk. My point here is that the tradegy is that there is such a low income from being a diary farmer in sweden today, that their is a lack of young diary farmers who are willing to take over the herd. Because many young farmers today are stopping being diary farmers, because of the low profits.

Like that can be seen as tragic. But there were never such a time, were a farmers in their late 80s needed to do all the chores involved in diary farming. Or rather. Never a time that was precieved as a positive thing.

Cows are strong. Cows can by accident kick a milking farmer, and if you are a old and fragile farmer. Well then. Not good

Eeeugh. Just annoyed at “traditional farming romanticism” that have no perspective of the realities of farming in pre industrial sweden

(in pre industrial sweden, female teenagers from farming families, would be sent to neighbours to work as a piga, a farmhand. This was their education in being a farmer, so basically obligatoric. Therefore, even two farmers siblings, without children, as the once in the documentary, would have had a small amount of pigor in their employ.

I also think, but here I guessing a bit from memory. But if there was no one to take over their farm, I think people sometimes passed the farm on to a favorite among these drängar and pigor one would have. To someone one trusted, and who needed the land. Sometimes too, farms were abonded if unprofitable. this too happened.

When the adult farmers became to old too farm, they would write a contract with the one who took over the farmer, useally their child, to how much food they would get from the farm in their old age. So, as old people they world live a sort pensioner life actually, which was founded on legally binding contracts. They could go to court if they felt like they got too little food forexemple)

The documentary I am talking about is called: “korna i djurarsdalen”

PS. I just get annoyed by “bonderomantik” haha