Between Mercosur, Brexit and the weather, it’s getting harder to stay positive in beef farming.

But getting geared up and ready for the onslaught of a new calving season always brings a slight air of excitement.

The anticipation and hopefulness of things going well and a better crop of calves than the year before and the nervousness of what could or might possibly go wrong! When the first calf is out alive and well, this feeling usually fades and you settle back into it being second nature.

My calving period tends to run from November to January, or that’s the aim anyway.

The sheds are now washed and disinfected and the cows vaccinated and bolused and ready for action. I always start to house the cows that are due to calve in early November around this time of year, mainly because I have control over their feed intake and they are just easier to keep an eye on.

However, this year it’s a case of having to house them rather than wanting to house them, as the weather just leaves no other choice. I should probably say rehouse rather than house, as some of the cows have only been back at grass for two weeks. They were more or less let out to enable me to wash the sheds and were put straight back in again.

The Moocall service charge will of course need to be renewed, a very useful item when I am away at work.

Before I had the Moocall, any cow that was deemed near calving was put in a clean straw-bedded calving pen and, thankfully, on many an occasion, she would be calved when I got home. Now when the text message arrives, you’re left wondering what the story is, do I need to rush home? Is she ok on her own?

However, this year I will hopefully not have this issue, as I aim to have another weapon in my armoury.

I’m a bit like a child waiting on Santa at the moment, as I’m in the process of planning the installation of a couple of calving cameras; something that has been on the agenda for probably the last four years but just never seemed to get done.

Probably because I was always told the best system was a hard-wired system, which meant I needed to bring a cable from my house to the shed to access the internet, a distance of around 300m.

I need the internet so I can view the cameras on my phone. Of course, each summer went by and I still had no cable in place; this year was no different.

Here I am facing into another calving season and still no cable.

At this stage, I just said feck it and I’m opting for a wireless point to point system which I’m assured is equally as good. Time will tell I suppose.

Any kind of camera has to be better than trekking out in the cold at 12 o’clock at night to look at a cow lying, chewing her cud, with absolutely no notion of calving.

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