I took advantage of the good weather and let the weanling heifers out two weeks ago. They’ve been performing well, but as ground conditions came under pressure with last week’s rain, they were housed at the weekend. Because they’re housed at the main calving block, there’s a limited area they will be able to graze as the rest will be required for cows and calves. Having a fragmented farm requires a bit of juggling when it comes to grazing in spring.

The plan would be to let the lighter ones back out first rather than the full group, but that decision will come down to the weather, ground conditions and the number of cows calved. Speaking of calving, that shouldn’t be kicking off properly for another fortnight, but the first group have made their way to the calving shed and the countdown is on.

Unfortunately, there was a disappointing start to calving when one of the older cows calved three weeks premature last week. All was fine in the morning and I got a bit of a land when I found the calf on the slats in the afternoon. It was one of those cases where if I had spotted it an hour or two sooner, there would have been a more positive outcome.

As an old Macra acquaintance of mine said before: “Let there be no chaos, but if there is to be chaos, let it be organised.”

The calf was alert enough, but not strong enough to stand. I’ve won in similar circumstances before, but not on this occasion. It was disappointing because it was a heifer calf from the type of no-fuss cow that you’d like a herd of.

Incidents like that soak up time; sorting colostrum, an infrared lamp, moving them around and the time spent checking in on them. You wouldn’t miss a few hours disappearing in circumstances like that and even though I try to be as labour efficient as possible, you still need to allow time for on-farm surprises at this time of year.

You can deal with the trickier jobs if you know they’re ahead – the unknown work is a different matter. As an old Macra acquaintance of mine said before: “Let there be no chaos, but if there is to be chaos, let it be organised.”

I can’t recall if they said it in regard to an event we were organising or a social outing, but it’s a sentence that feels appropriate to this time of year on most farms.

You can deal with the trickier jobs if you know they’re ahead – the unknown work is a different matter

Whether it’s calving, lambing or trying to get ground work done in a tight window of good weather, things can get chaotic. I have a feeling that’s also going to be the scenario many farmers find themselves in this year when trying to get accustomed to the new CAP, and agri advisers are going to have their hands full between now and the middle of May.

After all, the last incarnation of CAP was one of the longest in terms of duration and we’d come to familiarise ourselves with not having to make any changes.

Nitrates banding, land leasing, Space For Nature and entitlement trading are going to see calculators go on overdrive as farmers try to get a handle on what the new changes entail.

The calving shed sounds much more appealing than dealing with that.