Farmer Writes: The snow caused a change in our plans

We are just starting to get back into the swing of things here in Abbeyleix after a few nice, quiet weeks with family and friends.

The snow this week changed our plans a bit. We got around four or five inches here on Sunday and then the hard frost came.

Luckily it didn’t really affect us that much as all that really had to be done was to feed the cows and clean and bed the cubicles.

We did a good job insulating all water pipes going into the water troughs a few years ago and the water didn’t freeze in the sheds this time, so that was a big help.

We just did a bit of tidying up in the machinery shed/workshop this week and made a start at getting the calf and calving pens ready.

We were due to vaccinate for IBR and Rotavirus this week but didn’t get around to it yet because of the snow and ice around the yard.

I had also planned on getting soil samples taken for the whole farm this week, before I spread slurry, but the snow and ice scuppered that plan. Hopefully, I will be able to get them taken at the weekend.

I am planning on getting some slurry spread on the paddocks with the umbilical pipes next week, weather permitting. I will put the slurry out at 2,000 – 2,500 gallons/acre on covers below 1,300kg DM/ha, on dry fields.

We will also be backfilling around the new tank next week and getting the slats on.

We then have a small bit of concrete to pour and a few gates to hang to have it ready for the cows to get into the parlour.We are not doing the full collecting yard extension until next year, as the time frame would have been too tight to get it done.

Best cow

I had an alert from the collars on Christmas Day that our best cow, 990, had stopped eating and ruminating. Only for the collars, she wouldn’t have been noticed as early as she didn’t look like there was anything wrong with her in the shed.

I injected her with antibiotics because I thought she had a chill, but it made no improvement, and on closer observation, I felt she had a stomach issue.

A local man has an alternative remedy for cattle with upset stomachs. We dosed her with that and within two hours she had started eating and was back on track.

She produced 737kg MS in 293 days last year with a butterfat of 4.11% and a protein of 3.42%.

I was fairly worried when I got the alert, but it was a great relief when she made a full recovery.

I was looking at my rainfall app for the end of the year and we had a very dry December overall here, with only 52mm of rain, and half of that came on New Year’s Eve.

In December 2023 we had 100mm. It was quite a dry year overall with 800mm of rain compared to 1,045mm in 2023.

We were very happy with our tractor sales this year and had a few sales around the Christmas period, too.

Hopefully, 2025 will be as good.