February Farming Activity of the Month: Ditching

From left to right, top to bottom:

• Land Girl Ditching near Ampthill. 29 Sep 1942. BP Box 1418. Courtesy of Stuart Antrobus, Ampthill images

• Husborne Crawley. Demonstration by the Womens Land Army. 9 Mar 1943. BP Box 1510. Courtesy of Stuart Antrobus, Ampthill images

• A rural scene with women of the Women’s Land Army working on land drainage. Four cranes are being used to create and maintain a series of drainage ditches filled with water. One of these cranes to the left has sunk into a water-logged patch of ground and is being dragged out with a pulley controlled by a group of WLA workers. The horizon is lined by trees and there are some farm buildings in the left foreground. Source: © IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 2987)

• In the foreground a landgirl stands with her foot on a tree stump as she turns down the top of her boot. Behind her three other, similarly dressed women stand in a stream, digging. Two men stand in the field in the background watching the women at work at work. Painting by Leonard Daniels. Source: © IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 2979)

Other Farming Activities include:

• General farm maintenance
• Bringing in sheep for pregnancy scanning and housing
• Feeding livestock
• Calving
• Spreading slurry

Source: Farm Direct.co.uk