It’s gradually moving to the calmer time of year. Bulls are sold, breeding is on the home straight and silage is getting under control. The routine workload is moving towards daily herding and washing the sheds.

After three weeks of AI, the bull is in with the main bunch of cows. He will be taken out after the TB test in three weeks’ time and the same will happen with the bulls on the outside farm. It’s one way of drawing a line under the calving season.

I missed one of the cows for AI, but the bull will pick her up no doubt and if not, then it’s an easy decision made for culling.

There was a slight change of direction taken with using AI this year. Bulls used were polled Hereford and Simmental, with a small bit of Angus trialled too.

Silage is running along similar lines to last year and the bulk of it will be under control by the end of the month. It’s meant a few days where grazing has been tight on the home block. On paper, we have plenty of grass, but, in reality, fragmentation means it’s not always where I need it.

Under scrutiny

Living on the wild Atlantic way, there are times when you’re under a bit more scrutiny. Last weekend was a case in point.

A few concerned tourists called to say they thought there was a dead calf in the ditch. I explained that I had it seen it earlier and that it was normal behaviour for young calves to seek a sheltered spot and all was OK.

After they had left, I went to check on it. I got within a few feet of the calf and within seconds the “dead calf” was dashing back to his mother.

The cows get a bit smart too. They are quick to start roaring for a move when anyone stops to look at them if they are in fields by the road.

The farm’s location has led to a new venture this summer. Together with four other farmers and with the backing of three local hotels, we have formed West Cork Farm Tours. It offers visitors the opportunity to see commercial farms and hopefully will go some way to bridging the gap that exists between food producers and consumers.

It has been an interesting process getting set up and has soaked up a bit of time as we fine-tune it. While we’re taking a chance on a potential opportunity because of the farm’s location, living in a tourist area also provides a few challenges.

There’s a number of accommodation options within a few hundred metres of the farm, so, where at all possible, we try to avoid spreading slurry at weekends. This is subject to contractor availability and weather though.

The cows get a bit smart too. They are quick to start roaring for a move when anyone stops to look at them if they are in fields by the road.

Fertiliser

As part of the farm tours, I was visited by a group of journalists from 10 different countries last week.

One of the first stops out the field is a talk on grass and I’d just started when I heard “ah but you use lots of artificial fertiliser for this”.

Luckily we had stopped in a large clover patch, so I was able to explain that we have more than halved our use of chemical fertiliser in recent years. The grass-fed credentials Irish beef is sold on were well and truly tested.

The other major topic was animal welfare. As farmers, we need to be much more aware of what we do and how it is perceived. Marketing needs to know what we do too. That’s another bridge both sides need to work on.

Read more

Farmer Writes: half the silage for next winter made