With the tail end of ex-hurricane Ophelia forecast for Monday, last weekend was hectically busy.

As I mentioned last week, we resigned ourselves to losing the remainder of the oaten straw. We spread it out with a hay bob.

We sowed the seed wheat but, despite the hope of simply a drizzle, enough rain fell to put a stop to it.

We finally finished the seed crop on Sunday and then battened down the hatches for Monday. Surprisingly little rain fell so on Tuesday afternoon we got going again.

I was prepared to see the skimmers taken off the plough but in fact that wasn’t necessary and we succeeded in getting the last of the wheat in on Wednesday.

The only autumn sowing we have to do now is the gluten-free oats.

The seed has safely arrived so hopefully we will get it into the oilseed rape ground within the next week or so.

On the cattle side, despite the care we take with the new weanlings’ arrival, we still have occasional mortality at this time of the year – one died of either bloat or fog fever.

It was hard to tell which and one just got sick and didn’t recover despite intensive treatment while we are still nursing two others.

The rest seem to be doing well but random weighings show very little weight gain on autumn grass. However, I am comparing their present weight with a full mart weight so there are inevitably some adjustment losses.

We still have a lot of surplus grass, some of which we will continue to zero graze as long as weather allows and supplement with about 1kg/head of barley.

Meanwhile, the old yard wall that fell down has been replaced by a new, reinforced concrete structure.

The old wall was built in the days before tractors, let alone industrial loaders used for silage work. The cost, at almost €200 per linear foot for what is admittedly an excellent job, took me by surprise.

Glanbia spin-out

Over the last few weeks, like thousands of Glanbia suppliers, new as well as old shareholders, I received my new share certificate for the shares allocated to me under the spin-out.

A day or two within receiving the certificate, I was surprised to receive from Glanbia a letter warning me of unauthorised individuals ringing to purchase the shares at apparently well above market prices. The letter was dead on the mark.

On Sunday, I received a total of 11 calls from a Caribbean island – the first one I answered. It asked me to hold on for the finance director. I terminated the call there and then but they kept on trying for another 10 times.

One of my more technically minded children then barred that number from getting through to my phone so I’ve had no problem since but it may be a useful warning to other farmers.

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