OPINION: Who needs a dozen roses when you have a dozen calves, right?

Homemade cards bedazzled with glitter and paper hearts, anonymously signed by little hands, flowers and a dairy sire catalogue arriving in the post, marks a typical Valentine’s week on the farm.

While you might expect Valentine’s Day to be a cheesy event on a dairy farm, the coinciding spring season workload leaves little time for grandiose gestures and extravagant escapes.

Dinner and a movie replaced by dine in and double screening between Netflix and the calving camera, the box of Milk Trays are hastily tucked into between milking and the hustle of family life.

But farm life has a reputation as a romantic one and rightly so.

Its trending in popular culture with books like Courting: Tractor Dates, Macra Babies and Swiping Right in Rural Ireland by Liadán Hynes that tells the story of modern love in rural Ireland and Love in the Country a new RTÉ dating series hosted by Anna Geary that’s currently being filmed for Irish TV screens and set to feature rural singletons looking for romance.

On a farm where life is not so nine to five, it’s all about re-framing the definition of romance and what that means to you.

It’s a place where an act of service means more and actions speak louder than gifts, flowers, and chocolates.

For one thing, farm life offers a slower pace that can be conducive to building deep connections.

With plenty of wide-open spaces, sunshine and nature, walking the land to change fences or measure grass as part of the job.

It’s a lovely time to talk, laugh and have the craic.

It’s a great part of farm workplace culture.

There’s also something undeniably romantic about working side-by-side with your partner to care for the livestock.

The hard work and shared sense of purpose that comes with running a farm can be a powerful bonding experience, creating a deep sense of trust and respect between two people.

Despite what the cynics amongst us may say, when you marry someone, a big foundation of that is the partnership: you make a pretty good team, building a life together and solving problems together too.

After five straight years of babies and toddlers, a herd of dairy cows is a relative doddle.

On a farm that partnership is essential to success, the constant connection, communication and building of something tangible is pretty powerful.

Although sometimes when herding doesn’t quite go to plan and the cattle break into an unintended location, things can quickly resemble “John and Mary” from Father Ted, not that the cows take any notice while running out the gap!

So, if you’re spending Valentine’s Day on a farm, don’t expect a romantic getaway.

But you can expect plenty of love, drama, and a little bit of laughter along the way.

Who needs a dozen roses when you have a dozen calves, right?

Katie Gleeson is an online content creator who documents family life on a dairy farm in rural Tipperary via her Instagram account @katieinthecountry.