Rain has been hitting from almost every direction and if February continues like this, it will mark six months of rain. We may have to call them the wet and dry season if this continues.

From September to the end of January, the weather station on Sherkin Island measured 814mm of rain. The last five months’ worth of rain is within sight of the entire rainfall of 1,092mm that was recorded there in 2024. The long-term average (LTA) for those five months is 576mm, while the annual LTA is 1,137mm.

Those figures back up how it has felt on the saturated ground and thankfully it is happening at a time when stock are housed.

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When there was a small window to get a bit of slurry out last week, I went for it. There was little choice at that stage, but what was most alarming was it was the end of January and the driest fields in the place were still marked. This was the latest that the first few loads of the year were ever spread.

I keep reminding myself that the rain will stop eventually and it’s only a case of managing the yard as best I can until it does. With the levels of precipitation that have fallen in recent months, it’s probably best to prepare for a drought in summer.

A week of dry easterly winds, while it would make the yards uncomfortable to walk around in, would do the world of good to dry out ground ahead of stock getting out to grass.

Those same easterlies meant that bluetongue’s emergence was inevitable and the country was fortunate to stay clear of it for as long as we did. When the virus was present in Wales it was always likely that strong easterly winds would carry infected midges across the Irish Sea.

I need to do a bit more reading up on it yet to see if I should be considering vaccinating for it or not. With calving just around the corner, it’s probably too late, but maybe it’s something that should be considered for the replacement heifers ahead of breeding. It’s better to see how things play out first and give it reasonable consideration rather than making a rash decision.

I’m due a Bord Bia quality assurance audit in the next few months and I’d say those who conduct the audits are bearing the brunt of the farmer ire over the current controversy surrounding the chair of the organisation.

They’re at the coal face in terms of regular engagement with farmers, in comparison to a board chair who is largely there to oversee corporate governance.

Even if the issue is resolved in the coming days, the decisions made in the Bord Bia chair’s company won’t help when it comes around to implementing new standards for the various quality assurance schemes.

There will be far greater farmer kick back than there may have been previously. While the percentage of beef involved is small, the fact it occurred at all doesn’t reflect well on the Dawn Farm Foods CEO’s wider industry role. I just wonder is the response proportional to the offence though.

For the second Christmas in a row, my parents and their neighbours in the wider Ballinascarthy and Shannonvale area had no running water, yet there’s still bonuses flying around Uisce Éireann.

That’s only one of many areas that are regularly impacted by water supply, yet senior level staff appear to have their bonuses built in regardless of delivery.

I’ve a bigger issue with the likes of that than the Bord Bia boardroom.