I always find it hard to get back into routine in January.

I spent a fortnight in Scotland for the festivities and returned to Ireland in the early days of the year, perfectly coinciding with some of the most treacherous driving conditions due to snow blizzards and sub-zero conditions.

My first few days back to reality were mostly spent thawing out water pipes, troughs and my feet.

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I always like the look of the farm covered in a blanket of snow, but the reality is that the challenges that the adverse weather conditions bring far outweigh the pretty aesthetic.

This theory was confirmed when the thaw came, flooding the shed and I found myself wondering whether ovine armbands should be considered.

Yard

I ride out at the racing yard every morning just now and fill the afternoons with farm tasks.

I’m led to believe that 2026 is the year of the horse, but I’ll admit to seriously questioning this theory first thing on Monday morning after accidentally pressing the ejector seat button and having a feed of dirt for breakfast.

Most days in the last week have included a full outfit change at lunchtime given that now the snow has gone, monsoon season seems to be on us and I apparently don’t have enough waterproof clothing for life in the northwest of Ireland.

Scanning

We have made a start to the pregnancy scanning, although, initially, it is just to give us an insight into the hold rates of ewes which were implanted with embryos or artificially inseminated. The rest of the flock will be scanned in the coming weeks and then we will split them into batches according to how many lambs they are carrying so we can feed accordingly.

I was pleasantly surprised at the body condition of the ewes while we were handling them, given how bad a run of weather we have had.

Lamb prices seem to be back on the year considerably at the minute. We sold the first batch of the year last weekend and although we were pleased with the trade on the day, they were £10 cheaper than the same spec of lamb at the same sale last year.

As always with farming, it’s a gamble and no two years are the same. We will hope for an improvement in the coming weeks, as there is plenty more to go away.