Describing a neighbour’s ability to hold conversation with an older female farmer close to where I grew up, a friend of mine said: “He speaks the language of love. Calves and the weather.”

If that woman were alive today, there would only be one of those topics up for discussion. The weather.

Controlled improvisation is probably the best way to describe farming in 2018, as farmers endure different feed challenges on the back of weather events. The word ‘‘resilient’’ began to creep in to replace sustainable as the advisory buzzword in 2017. However, I don’t think anyone could have envisaged the resilience test this year would become. A positive consequence for me from the dry spell was it revealed a leak in the mains water pipe feeding the house and farm. Fixing that should result in a saving.

It doesn’t feel like it now but I think there will be positives for Irish agriculture to take from these current challenges. As Dad often says, things going wrong are what keep you on your toes. It forces you to adapt and think.

Recent graduates who have entered employment in the agri sector will benefit from having gone through this farming year and storing it in the memory bank. The industry as a whole will learn from these experiences. Everyone from farmers through to advisory and merchant level all had to adapt with little or no let up.

There was no room to go through the motions as different challenges arose every six to eight weeks. A potential stumbling block is the short memories farmers have.

With time still on our side before the onset of winter, Irish farmers are in a position to make choices now and put alternative fodder plans in place or lower feed demand through reducing stock numbers.

Given the fact our cow housing is largely straw-bedded, sourcing straw or coming up with an alternative will be a challenge. Plans for changing this in the long term are under way and have been on the cards a while but it’s speeding up due the contraction of straw sources. Scanning will take place earlier as well and a seven-week breeding season was used for the cows to let their fertility decide the culling.

We’ve been guilty of carrying a few “but she’s a good cow” passengers in the past but not in recent years. The heifer calves keep the pressure on the cow herd. The sale value of a cull cow often exceeds that of a younger heifer and most years they would form the second biggest type of animal we sell after young bulls.

Outside of the EU and the safety net of subsidies, the key controllable driver in breeding drystock enterprises around the world is fertility. One of the difficulties with fertility is it can’t be seen. That’s visible every year in our heifer groups. They’re all treated the same but not all go in calf during the first three weeks.

Getting fertility right might mean a farmer has to compromise on what they prefer to do, looking at the stock or looking at the bank account.

You can have a cow in whatever colour, shape, size you like but if she’s not doing her basic function then you have a choice to make.

If having an expensive pet is your thing, then fine, but you have to keep an eye on the bottom line.