As well as holding house and home together, she should be a whizz on the computer, have a first-rate brain, and should be ready to do any physical job required at the drop of a hat. She probably has a job away from the farm as well.

A study for Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) (click on 'Cost of Unpaid Labour' on the panel to the right of the screen) has worked out that if farmers were to pay their wives, the work they do would be equivalent of £11.18 an hour.