The constant circling of the centre pivots, round and round on the same tracks, creates ruts in the fields. Add water to that and you get a muddy, sticky quagmire and the wheels often become stuck.

This can become quite expensive, especially if it happens at night and the pivot attendants have fallen asleep on the job; the wheels keep churning in one place, digging deeper and deeper into the mud, bearings seize, motors burn out and people lose their jobs!

It was an arduous and back-breaking daily task carting small rocks into the fields to fill in the ruts.

So this year Piet decided to fix the problem once and for all. We hired a back-hoe, dug ourselves some gravel and deposited it along all the wheel tracks, forming a more solid road for the pivots to travel along.

This has certainly made life a little easier for everyone.