Raiméis, rigmarole and ruaille buaille. They are what I call the three Rs of introducing a scheme.

The raiméis we listen to when it is introduced, the rigmarole participants go through to receive their portion of money and the ruaille buaille it creates from its inception to conclusion.

Meetings with reasons and arguments for and against it. Then there is the on-farm practicalities of implementing it.

I don’t like to dwell on schemes too much as they distract from the core business thinking but there are elements of them which are frustrating, such as receiving the BDGP tags in the third week of April. They arrived here just two days before the replacement heifers left for the out farm.

In a bizarre way, the bad spring and the fact they were on-off grazing also helped as they were indoors when I got the tags, so mercifully it was less of a job than if they had left the home yard.

I would have been sorely tempted to send the tags back if they arrived after the heifers were gone.

I know I keep rattling on about the disconnect we have in agriculture but what a farce.

With cattle housed and convenient for seven to even nine months on many farms, are there other options?

A significant number of farmers are also part-time so a small bit of joined-up thinking would go a long way. That applies to all schemes – they seem to be balanced in favour of the administration rather than the application.

Is there merit in using two tissue tags at birth and saving extra hassle? It would certainly be a time-saver but may only apply to closed herds. It’s something worth thinking about.

On farm, there are three cows left to calve. The stand-out heifer from last year calved over five weeks after her comrades. She is a fantastic looking animal but sometimes it is the unspectacular cows that deliver.

Last year, we had 19 cows calve in May, one was culled as her calf died but the others got a run with the bull and all bar one have calved by now.

Grazing has been sporadic with some of the cows back in again at the start of this week.

Decision

A decision was made to introduce a fodder stretcher while they were on-off grazing to give the grass and, more importantly, the soil a chance to recover.

Heifers and their calves that went out first are performing well with most showing heats at this stage and their calves are driving on.

The calves that stayed in while their mothers were out grazing are ticking along nicely. It was unusual to see so many of them lying out in the straw away from the cows.

Pressure was eased on the home block at the weekend when the first bunch of cows and calves were also sent to the out farm.

For the second year running, there is a second calver that hasn’t taken to her calf. This pair require supervision and this soaks up time when there are enough other jobs to do.

She won’t be returning to the bull and neither will the heifer who took a few weeks to warm to her calf.

Another cow being shown the gate is a super second calver. She tried to get at Dad through the gates one evening I was away, so there is no point risking her around the place.

As one farmer said to me recently if you need to warn somebody about a cow, why is she still in the herd?