Years ago at 8am on a Sunday you certainly wouldn’t find me standing in the middle of a damp field, listening to a cuckoo belting away in a copse of trees half a mile away while four in-calf cows happily munched around me.

Maybe maturity does indeed come to everyone if they wait around long enough for it, or we are just more content with the simpler things in life that we wouldn’t have paid much heed to at a younger age.

Perhaps it’s the long winter finally behind us and being able to get outdoors again without layers of clothing to keep myself warm and dry.

While we normally get around to planting a small vegetable garden in April each year, this time we’ve expanded to two 40-yard potato ridges dug with a loy.

I thought I was moderately proficient with a loy until I saw the finished ridges

When I heard two men had been arranged to dig these ridges for us, I was expecting them to be two local men, but little did I realise that they were both All-Ireland champions in loy digging.

I thought I was moderately proficient with a loy until I saw the finished ridges which would line up with any spirit level and with half a ridge yet to be dug by ourselves for carrots and swedes, I doubt it’ll turn out anywhere close to the standard already in place.

With words like ‘praskeen’ and ‘guggering’ being bandied about along with dropping the middle split, it sounded like times past had rolled around again. Many thanks must be given to Lorcan and his two willing volunteers John and Kevin who managed to keep the banter flowing all day as they dug.

It’s certainly been a relief to not have any shed work to do for the first time since early November, not least because we were down to our last two bales of silage and it was looking touch and go for a few days.

One heifer has escaped twice now

We still managed to have three separate groups of cattle but the walking commute to see them is much more enjoyable, though not every animal is keeping to the boundaries allocated.

One heifer has escaped twice now but each time she was stopped in her tracks by the temptation of a lovely sweet lawn and an open gate was found. We’ve yet to discover if it’s human error or a smart heifer we’re dealing with but every escape route is now hopefully barricaded and as she’s due in a month that might put a stop to her wandering ways.

The final winter task before the shed got emptied this year was a couple of cows which needed their feet tended to, with one gone lame overnight and another with overgrown hooves.

Most of our stock have been in the hoofcare crate at least once, but the first time getting one in without losing patience at least once is a near impossible task which usually boils down to who is more stubborn – Gabriel and a bucket of feed, or the cow. I’ve yet to see a cow win this game and I doubt I ever will.