Despite saying this was a quiet time of the year in a previous column, we have been busy enough over the past few weeks around the yard.

The Angus- and Hereford-cross heifer calves we bought are taking more time to feed and manage than was planned.

They are averaging a healthy 230kg and are eating more than planned too.

We set rape in a field with heavy soil back at the start of September. If the weather played ball, the calves would have been out-wintered on it but all the rain means this bet will not pay off now.

With this in mind, we will buy more calves and year-old cattle in the spring

As a result, the reluctant decision has been made to sell them. They have paid their way though, just about, and we have seen first-hand that mixed grazing with sheep and cattle/calves works for our setup. With this in mind, we will buy more calves and year-old cattle in the spring.

The upside of selling them is that we are free to concentrate on the sheep again.

This is our first year lambing early and no doubt plenty of time will be needed to keep ewes and newborn lambs going well in the dark, cold days of January and February.

Good scan

We scanned the ewes at the start of November and got on well. Plenty of twins, a few singles, and not too many triplets gave us a scan of 1.8 overall. Two out of the 31 ewes sponged were empty and have since been culled.

After going through the various costs and matching labour considerations, we opted to put the ewes on an all-concentrate diet again. This worked out well for us in 2017.

I got great advice, including practical feeding levels, from an online colleague

While fodder beet worked well in the winter/spring of 2018-2019, the weather this year and the resulting softness of the ground means we turned our face against feeding beet outside in 2019-2020.

I got great advice, including practical feeding levels, from an online colleague (thanks Gordon) and when I rooted out his notes a few weeks back I was reminded of how easy it is to feed an all-concentrate diet compared to a combination of concentrates, silage or hay, and possibly fodder beet thrown into the mix too.

Off-farm job

The costs may be a little higher, but not as much as you would think.

The big advantage though is the lower labour required, which matters a lot when you have to factor in an off-farm job.

Managing silage or beet with a small tractor and a transport box is not much fun but this is avoided when we are handling 25kg bags of meal.

Read more

Farmer Writes: Glanbia chair's comments make for worrying reading

Farmer Writes: why as a lifelong Tory I should vote for Corbyn