The Christmas and new year period provides an opportunity to both reflect on the year gone by and look ahead. Use the time to put down three things that went right in 2017 and three things that could have gone better.

When looking ahead, ask yourself what you could do to avoid a repeat of these challenges. It doesn’t need to be complicated and could be as simple as hanging a gate a different way or trying to bring forward the date for harvesting silage – even culling a wild cow. At the same time, write down four or five things you would like to achieve in 2018 – they don’t all need to be farm-related. They can be reviewed throughout the year.

Wishing all our readers a happy prosperous, and safe new year.