If Carlsberg did springs, they couldn’t do much better than the first few weeks of 2019. We have over 100 cows calved now and they were out grazing day and night since calving.

The maize pit is still closed and milk is starting to roll out the gate again.

The forecast for this week hasn’t been quite as good but we have plenty of options if we have to lock the milkers in for a few days.

Grass cover is still very strong after 10 days of grazing, with the average farm cover (AFC) still over 1,200kg.

Calving has gone very well so far, with only two stillborn calves out of the first 100

We are feeding 6kg of concentrate to protect against grass tetany and milk fever and to keep energy levels up when they are out day and night and not getting any maize silage yet.

Calving has gone very well so far, with only two stillborn calves out of the first 100 and most of the cows are going on into the milking herd without any trouble.

The heifers are comfortable coming in and out of the parlour after a few training runs through the dry period but some are still showing plenty of personality when the cluster is added to that experience.

The main thing is they are big and strong enough to calve without too much trouble and to compete with the cows in the field and parlour.

We changed breeding policy slightly three years ago by using more stockbulls

They are also showing plenty of milk in their udders and are generally trouble free from a health point of view.

We changed breeding policy slightly three years ago by using more stockbulls and this is the first batch from this breeding project.

We will see how everything else tests down the road.

We did lose an older cow at calving last week, which was disappointing.

She didn’t open properly to calve at first but, after a visit from our vet early in the day and some medication, she eventually opened enough to get a calf out alive at 8pm.

The cow must have injured herself internally though and, despite plenty of TLC, pain relief and antibiotics, she failed to pull through.

Bull calves for beef will start to move off the farm in a week or so

We are running at two heifer calves to every bull calf so far, which was boosted by 12 heifer calves that came from 20 sexed semen straws used in the first week of breeding.

We will continue to use this technology sparingly over the coming years with maybe 10% of the herd getting a sexed straw in the first week of breeding.

Any repeats will still calve early then, if picked up in week four of the breeding season.

Bull calves for beef will start to move off the farm in a week or so.

There is a big cloud hanging over the beef industry again with all the Brexit uncertainty, but I suppose we have to keep faith a bit and keep moving forward as there isn’t a pause button on the farm.

We will have most of the herd calved by Paddy’s Day and some clement weather would be very welcome in the interim

Hopefully a solution can be found in time to avoid financial hardship for all of us but especially the already embattled beef farmers.

We will have to wait and see what the next two months throws at us.

We will have most of the herd calved by Paddy’s Day and some clement weather would be very welcome in the interim but we are all as nervous as long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs after last year.

As Brian Cody would say; “Every game takes on a life of it’s own”, and every year farming is the same so I suppose we can hope for the best again with the good start and obviously prepare for everything else.