As we close in on the Christmas period, we have a list of jobs as usual to tick off the list before the big day. We will dry off the last of the cows this weekend and get them all dosed and grouped on body condition score for the main winter period.

This year’s dosing programme includes a pour-on for worms and lice followed by a flukicide drench for both rumen and liver fluke.

We also have both IBR and scour vaccines to administer at least two weeks before calving starts, which probably means 20 days before calving is due to start, the way the calves have been arriving a few days early in recent years.

The dry cow minerals are already included in the diet for the last few weeks to help cow health at calving and cows have had their tails clipped for cleanliness before drying off.

We will try to prevent as much trouble in the spring as possible by getting the preparations right through the dry period and it is nice to have the few weeks without milking to concentrate on all of the little tasks that need to get done.

The calving box and the calf feeders will move to the top of the list when all of the dosing and vaccinating is under control.

Grass growth and grass covers are moving along nicely since paddocks were closed in the autumn and even with the wet weather over the last few weeks, the mild temperatures are keeping things moving forward.

A lot of paddocks will reach 1,500kg DM/ha or more of grass by the end of the year, so hopefully all the rain falls now and clears the slate for a good spring when we can make use of those heavy covers.

Most of the bull calves are being bought locally again this year with the majority staying in the parish.

We keep hearing about carbon footprint, animal welfare and environmental issues with dairying, so surely at some stage in the future we will get credits for having a cow that produces a profitable beef calf as well as high volumes of milk solids.

We live in hope on this but it doesn’t seem to fit into any index as of yet.

Finally, while Glanbia is always seen as being an innovative milk processor, this Christmas it has outdone itself completely.

While most companies were giving out free gifts or throwing parties, Glanbia decided to do things a bit differently with a cut of 2c/l off the November base milk price.

Better yet, it has re-gifted 2c from our own co-op fund back to us in our Christmas stocking in a so-called support payment.

Some people are even going as far as calling this support payment a top-up.

In my opinion, a top-up is something you do to make a good price better and maybe the expression prop-up would be more suitable in this situation.

There are reasons for this price drop, but with Brexit looming and the possibility of a hard Brexit looking like a distinct possibility at this stage, it’s not a good place to end the year and it makes it more difficult to negotiate sustainable fixed milk price schemes due out early in the new year.

Happy Christmas to everyone who takes the time to read these pages each week and while 2019 will have its challenges again, we can take heart from the resilience shown throughout all the challenges of 2018.