Having been at a few farming events this summer, it’s the hot topic of the weather that has formed the main talking point. And when your business depends on it, then of course it will always take centre stage.

Various tasks have taken me to almost all parts of Scotland this past month or two and I don’t think that any part of Scotland has remained unscathed from the continual battering of rain and hail, interspersed with so few bright, warm and sunny days. Hay has been made, but it’s been hard won. Multi-cut silage operations have been hard hit too, with knock on effects to neighbours and so on.

One thing the weather has obscured a little has been the potholes on our rural roads. A burst tyre for me was the result of that, when a seemingly innocuous puddle turned out to be something the size of a moon crater and even the trusty old Volvo couldn’t cope with that, four-wheel-drive or not.

But, can farming go unscathed when it comes to some finger pointing as to the parlous state of our roads? I think not and don’t shoot the messenger on this one, but it has not gone unnoticed by those in national and regional power that perhaps blame should be attributed and recompensed in the form on some form of ‘road tax’ for agricultural vehicles.

The right of agricultural vehicles to remain largely free of road tax is historical, but things have moved on from when a Massey Ferguson 135 and a Marshall trailer were the main shifters on the farm. We now have some pretty huge beasts on the road and instead of five or seven tonnes, we can assume an all-up weight of something approaching 30 tonnes.

In fact, the HMRC says thus: ‘The weight limit for agricultural tractor and trailer combinations is 31 tonnes. The trailer itself is limited to 18.29 tonnes (including any load imposed on the tractor through the hitch).

‘Although many tractors do not require a roadworthiness test, all tractor owners must ensure their vehicle is roadworthy before using it on the public road. This is a legal requirement. In addition, general health and safety requirements apply when using a tractor off the road.’

So there you have it, usually there’s no road tax and you do not need an ag-version of a MOT. But we all know that some will be skating on thin ice here on a few counts, not the least of which is they are supposed to be only used on roads withing a 15-mile limit of the home farm on which they are registered (even though the tax is zero rated, tractors used on the road must be declared); some will be better than others when it comes to ‘road worthiness’; and only a few will pay scant attention to the application of weight limits.

We also have to factor into the argument that in this wet season especially, most will have giant load spreading tyres to gain traction and diff-locks in use to make that happen. This brings in another consideration and that is the overall width of the prime mover and any machine attached to it. In that respect, it is worth noting that anything over 3m width requires the police to be notified!

In my neck of the woods, there’s a lot of slurry on the move, but when two tractor/tanker combos meet on the same road, there’s an inevitable tendency to maintain speed but take to the verge, in which case the verges start to crumble and add a bit of spice to pot-hole damage.

While it’s hard to counter the ‘we’re feeding the nation’ argument, the same can be said of the delivery lorries that take our produce and distribute it around this nation and others – and they pay road tax. So, we cannot take it for granted that our equivalent of the ‘non-dom tax status’ will apply forever.

Moving swiftly on from the pot-holes in that argument and to get back on to safer ground, ScotGov bashing, it is becoming blindingly obvious that government intervention in having holiday letting ‘licenced’ is having a profound effect on those which have invested quite a lot of money, time and effort into diversifying into offering redundant cottages and farm building conversions as holiday lets.

So onerous is the exercise and laden with added costs, that more than a few are being put off the idea and I have heard of some giving it up entirely. Those in the long-term rental market have been similarly encircled by Scottish Government legislation which has given tenants far too many rights, including making it very difficult to increase rents, or get rid of bad tenants – another legacy left behind by the bleeding hearts of the Scottish Greens.

On both these issues, ScotGov cannot say that it had not been forewarned. Maybe the spanking they had at the General Election will have caused a re-think on some issues, but I doubt it.

To end on a positive note, I once again had the pleasure of attending Islay Show. It was not the perfect weather day, but close enough for another big crowd to watch what, in my and many others’ opinions, is one of the best commercial calf shows you will find. The sheep pens are also improving and it was from there that the show’s champion of champions emerged, a classy ‘true Blue’ Leicester from retired coalman, Duncan Currie.

The other outstanding impression from going to what might be a one-day show, but is really a three-day event, is the fact that if Scotland’s economy was as booming and busy as Islay’s whisky-driven economy, then we’d never have to worry about paying to fix pot-holes again! And all the ferries would be new and on time.

The right of agricultural vehicles to remain largely free of road tax is historical, but things have moved on from when a Massey Ferguson 135 and a Marshall trailer were the main shifters on the farm. We now have some pretty huge beasts on the road and instead of five or seven tonnes, we can assume an all-up weight of something approaching 30 tonnes.