AN UNUSUAL sight – 14 acres of wheat, alongside 12 acres of grass, being harvested at Macmanniston Farm, Dalrymple, Ayrshire, by GR Logan and Co, Raithhill, on January 8. Macmanniston's Sam Carmichael, said that it was "better late than never".

Asked why it was being done so late, he explained: "We had been meaning to do it for weeks, and we were starting to get to that point where we just thought it was never going to be done, but we got some frost and thought we should go for it, but it was definitely a salvage job. It's unbelievably late compared to last year, in 2016, when it was done on September 9."

Commenting on 2017 as a whole, Mr Carmichael added: "It's a year to forget. We'll hopefully get it done earlier this year, but at the end of the day, I can't complain, as there's people much worse off round about us."