Summer has arrived at last in Co Kilkenny and with the heavy showers over the last few weeks, this heatwave is driving on some exceptional growth again. We have a few more paddocks to mow and wrap, but the danger on this farm is that the hot weather if it persists could stop growth just as quickly.

Most of the grass on the farm is good quality now having been mowed at some stage over the past two months so we will monitor growth carefully over the next few weeks and only take out the bare surplus where the quality has deteriorated.

We will attempt to carry a bit of fat in the system in case growth rates start to fall off quickly through August. There is plenty of good-quality silage on the farm and plenty of good-quality grass available at the moment so for once we can enjoy the heat and sun without worrying too much about a drought. Hopefully we can even fit in an evening or two at the beach with the family.

The bulls have been pulled away from the cows now and the herd passed its annual TB test last week so the workload should fall off for the rest of the year. We pulled some lighter calves away from the main bunch after the test. These girls will get a bit more special attention over the next few months to ensure that they thrive a bit better. It’s only 10% of the group but it’s still important to keep these calves on target. We will go back for a look at the main bunch in a few weeks again and pull out any more that are falling behind.

The in-calf heifers have done extremely well over the first six months of the year after a slow start to the grazing season this spring.

Hopefully everyone on the farm can take a few days downtime over the next month to recharge the batteries after a busy spring.

Milk price continues to drag along the floor for the peak milk production months. We have been lucky enough to have pushed as much milk as possible into the fixed price schemes over the last few years and it is protecting us from the worst of the situation, but the base price being paid by the co-op at the moment is extremely disappointing.

We keep getting small hints of things turning around internationally, but so far it’s having no positive effect at farm level.

The situation is the same across the globe, with milk being produced below cost on almost all farms. The longer the price stays down though, the more extreme the reaction will be when banks start to move in certain regions and cows and farms are taken out of production. We could see a significant drop-off in production through 2017, which could drive prices back up very quickly.

It will be survival of the fittest internationally, with the high-cost producers in Europe and high-debt farms in New Zealand probably coming under the most pressure. Hopefully most of us in this part of the world can struggle through to the other side.