The frosts this week have brought more of a winter feel to the mornings. Grass had continued to grow well this autumn up to this cold snap, but will slow down a lot now.

We are grazing a wetter paddock at the moment and will probably do a bit of damage if we get any rain, but it’s the last paddock with a grass cover in excess of 2,000kg DM/ha and it just has too much grass on it to carry over the winter. There are three entrances to this paddock off the roadway, so this will help to minimise damage.

We will measure again after grazing this paddock to see where the overall farm cover is at, but it looks like we will finish grazing with a cover of 750kg DM/ha of grass on the farm.

We calve from 20 January and go to grass as soon as possible after calving, so we will need this reserve of grass on the farm for spring grazing.

Over half of the milking herd is dry now and we will dry off another batch next week. They have milked well through the autumn, but have held condition score well too.

We will dose the dry cows and in-calf heifers for fluke and worms and vaccinate for IBR as soon as we get the next batch dried off. This should see them through the winter in good order and set them up well for calving in spring.

We had a bit of bad luck on the farm this week when our quad bike was stolen out of a shed in the yard. It was only three years old and was a very valuable piece of equipment, both in terms of its monetary value and how much we relied on it to get through work.

We’ve turned around a lot this week and walked over to the shed where it was parked only to stop in our tracks realising it’s not there. It was a John Deere Gator XUV 855d with the number plate 12 KK 330, so if anyone sees it, they might contact the gardaí.

We will replace this machine over the next few weeks and we have a temporary substitute in situ in the meantime. We were changing the loader in the yard this year anyway, but changing this machine as well is an added cost that we could do without.

Insurance on this machine is with FBD again and they will have to bear the brunt of the financial cost, but we could still do without the stress, hassle and inconvenience caused. The machine was very fresh and wouldn’t have needed changing for a few more years.

We will now have to increase the level of security in the yard. It’s too vulnerable to this sort of crime, as are most farmyards around the country. We will have to fit electric gates, a security camera and possibly alarm some of the buildings.

It’s another layer of cost to farming or doing any other sort of business in this country now, which the previous generation didn’t have to worry about as much.

It’s frustrating, but it’s the same for farmers the length and breadth of the country now, especially at this time of year, with plenty of hours of darkness and with an extra demand for cash coming up to Christmas.

We all have plenty of machinery and equipment in the yard and although some yards are more exposed than others, all are vulnerable to some degree. We will all have to be extra vigilant.