A couple of weeks ago, there was an article about Pat Bruen’s pedigree Limousin herd in Roscommon and one phrase really stood out to me; selling bulls which are fit, not fat.

The same can be said for any breeding cow in the country, and throwing an eye over ours most of them would be on the curvier side of fit but nothing that should cause hassle once calving begins in March.

Writing up the due dates and bulls used into our high-tech AI notebook, I realised it’s the first time in over 30 years that we’ve not used a single Belgian Blue bull. More than once I have opened it to double check something and been transported back down memory lane, with the very first page having CF42 being used numerous times back in 1996.

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Oh to have a few of those straws in a pot now

There were even a couple of years where we used blue bulls on the majority of cows with one stand out year in particular being 2011 where all bar one cow were served to SFL. Oh to have a few of those straws in a pot now.

How this notebook has survived so long is a mystery as everyday items like the bale knife and adjustable spanner seem to grow legs and walk off every second week.

Thinking ahead to that busier time, we aim to sell our last weanlings this weekend in the local mart.

The thought of having to curtail her every three weeks until autumn would put anyone off

I finally decided on letting my roan heifer go through the ring and she’s been taken out to a bedded pen for some cleaning up and a refresher course on the halter.

Though I’d love to keep her, she was in heat last week and the thought of having to curtail her every three weeks until autumn would put anyone off.

It was rather unexpected as she’s not even seven months old so with all three now weaned and vaccinated it’s as good a time as any to let them off and start thinking ahead to the next generation.

Two of these are off a bull of our own breeding which we sold commercially in October 2024 as we felt he wasn’t up to breed standard for a pedigree sale.

On the day €1,800 seemed a great price but in hindsight we were wrong about his credentials as, even with no stars, he’s produced two cracking calves.

We accidentally upgraded our air conditioning in the tractor last week

Though we only have a single calf in the shed at the minute he’s charismatic enough to make a person think there’s five calves running around as he’s the liveliest little creature, even trying to take on some of the cows in a head-to-head and some mornings he would make a person tired just watching him run rings around the pen.

We accidentally upgraded our air conditioning in the tractor last week or, to be more precise, a heifer did. While bringing in a fresh bale the tractor door was left open and a curious heifer decided it was worthwhile to swing her head into the glass and in a matter of seconds it was a mound of tiny pieces on the ground.

That door certainly doesn’t have the best of luck; a few years ago I managed to break it while reversing with the door open, a lesson that has stuck with me ever since as I didn’t hear the end of it for weeks.

Thankfully we’ve always held comprehensive insurance on it for incidents like these so the only hassle was a few chillier days in the driving seat while waiting for the repair van to call round.