The selfie craze has arrived on Canadian farms.
Farmers across the country have taken to Twitter recently to post pictures of themselves with their livestock and farm equipment or at work on their farms.
The resulting pictures — selfies taken by farmers, hence #felfies — have been retweeted worldwide, led to websites devoted to felfies and generally made people smile.
There are farmers snuggling Holsteins, coping with the weather and posing with their dogs.
Katey Darr, tweeting from Manitoba, said felfies are a great way to show farmers’ daily lives.
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Dara Calon at Michichi, Alta., took The Western Producer up on an offer just before Christmas to post farmer selfies and sent in a photo of herself wearing a Keep Calm and Combine On cap posed in front of an overfull combine hopper, and the comment #oops.
Selfie was the Oxford Dictionary word of the year for 2013, and even U.S. president Barack Obama and Pope Francis got in on the craze.
As a result, it’s not too surprising that farmers and ranchers began using their smartphones to do the same.
The recent trend began when the Irish Farmers Journal held a “selfie on the farm” competition in December. The paper asked its Facebook fans to send in their funniest selfies. A panel of judges selected 10 finalists, and Facebook voters chose the best.
The winner was P.J. Ryan of Newport, County Tipperary, thumbs up and smoking a pipe in front of his Salers.
However, in the meantime the idea and entries went viral, leading farmers around the world to start tweeting and posting pictures of their own.
Michael Wollman, who farms near Saskatoon, said he loves the idea.
“Helping consumers connect with producers #faceforag,” he tweeted.
A word of caution if searching for a felfie: it can also be a term for people who post pictures of their feet.
