The weather has delayed growth by up to two weeks but obviously calvings progressed and cows had to be fed. It has gone from a point in January where I thought I would need only one cut of silage and slurry would be finished by St Patrick’s Day, to a reserve of 50 tonnes and full tanks. The difference this past week is seeing progress rather than just keeping things ticking over.

Friday saw the majority of the breeding heifers moved to Dunmanway, around 28 miles away, for summer grazing. A fragmented farm means expensive transport costs and I was reluctant to move too early. Last year I had to bring some home after only three weeks. Instead I concentrated on grazing out silage ground in Dunworley - six miles away - which was a little easier to monitor but some wet nights still caused some minor damage.

Milking cows started the second round of grazing on Monday morning April 7th, and finally got out by night that evening. I continued buffer feeding before evening milking with 1/2kg straw, 3kg rolled barley, 1kg soya, 10kg silage (reducing by 2kg/day) and of course calmag. The Keenan finished up yesterday as grass is now available at 163kg dM/LU with 2kg rolled barley (demand 68.8 & cover 750kg/ha).

46 autumn calves hit grass on Thursday too, emptying another building. I train them first for an hour in a secure yard surrounded by electrified white tape. I hang it high enough that they cannot get caught in it, but within reach of their nose, so it doesn’t take long to figure out the repercussions of contact!

From there a short length of roadway leads to a paddock with three strands of high tensile electric fencing and white tape for visibility. Great fun for a few minutes watching them circle the paddock before getting tired and settling down. The next move will be to Dunworley as I save home grazing for the milkers.

Tuesday turned out busy with two lorries (6,000 & 7,000 gallons) drawing slurry the six miles to a slatted tank in Dunworley, and an umbilical system with trailing shoe spreading silage ground. Standard tankers were not an option with both steep and wet patches, and grass cover of 600kg on some of it.

The team of four, along with me on the agitator, put over 100,000 gallons on 32 acres in around six hours, a job I was afraid would not happen, otherwise needing the purchase of fertiliser and rushing out slurry in the autumn.

Next up is another round of fertiliser on all grass (one bag of urea or three bags 18:6:12), meetings in Dublin today and herd test tomorrow. Looks like the spring calves will have to wait for their burst to freedom.