At this time of the year, every day we can keep the majority of our herd outdoors without damaging land is a bonus and we were doing pretty well until last weekend, when a full night of heavy rain brought the thought of winter housing rapidly forward.

On one wet day myself and the father finally got down to one job we’d been conveniently ignoring for a few months; fixing a leaky drinker in the shed. While we can work cattle together with minimal temper flares, anything that is at all technical can be like throwing a lit match into the hayshed.

He was sure it was the float, I was adamant it was the nut behind the float. However in the end it turned out to be both and while I think he took too much satisfaction in ‘accidentally’ drenching me a few times, both ourselves and the shed live to work together another day.

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Currently we’ve only got three cows in the shed but that will likely change before too long as we head into November.

One of these cows is also a pain to keep in the shed when the full herd isn’t accompanying her, as nothing pleases her more than the sound of her own voice.

In another life, she’d have made a great politician, but for now, being our herd matriarch will have to satisfy her daily proclamations.

These have been held indoors since their calves were weaned and sold in Carrigallen on the show/sale day of weanling heifers.

Credit must be given to the mart for the presentation of their holding pens that day; while dosing and vaccination are important for young stock at these larger sales, to see all pens bedded in deep straw and weanlings laying down cuddling, quite content, is reassuring to both the seller and buyer.

Like many others, we were very pleased with the trade that day as we can’t recall ever taking home an average of over €2,000 for heifers between six and seven months.

Long may it last is all I can say, and it’s not before time that the suckler farmer is getting a decent price for their stock.

Resilience

For many years the mantra of ‘there’s no money in suckler farming’ could be heard and our resilience scoffed at, but for the time being we can hold our heads high and let the bidders raise their hands higher.

Not alone that, we were also successful in winning two rosettes, a second for our 15-month-old heifer in the store heifer class on Thursday, followed by a third place in the Charolais category on Saturday.

We were also delighted that the new pastures of the older heifer are none other than those of Herbie’s Heifers, so hopefully we’ll see her reappearing as a more mature animal down the line at one of his sales.

Though wet, the weather remains mild enough for the cows and calves to be quite content outdoors. Bar two weanling heifers, which are grazing separately, they’re all running in one big group now.

We’re always a touch apprehensive when mixing groups, though it was less worrying this time as the main cow to fight was in the shed and in the end it was all over with some eye rolling and snorting.

I’ve previously tried spraying them with diluted vinegar or Lynx body spray which was also suggested, but all it did was leave them smelling like a chipper after a teenage disco, so for the foreseeable we’ll stick to the old methods!