"Our folk song repertoire smells more of horse dung and cow shit than it does "skipping lambs""

I agree with you that there are numerous sea songs that are emphatic about the harshness of life on board ship. But that seems to me to stand in contrast to the way rural life is presented. How many folk songs lament the harshness of life as a farm labourer? I can't think of more than a handful. (Nor can I think of a single one that mentions horse dung.)