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We are giving the store cattle a fresh paddock every day, and are concentrating on the land that we intend to close up this week for first-cut silage.
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We put the lightest of the store cattle out for a few hours by day in a dry paddock with a full cover of grass.
Normally by this stage, we would have grazed off most of the winter growth but this year, we haven't had one animal out on a paddock yet.
We still have no fertiliser out on the crops, with some of the winter barley beginning to show signs that a first split of nitrogen should go out as soon as possible.
At least the continuous rain has let us catch up on the endless paperwork that is part and parcel of modern farming.
We are hoping for a beef price that at least matches last spring but the price seems to be stuck.
Our mole drains that we put in last year have proven to be a real success with previously wet, impassible spots dry and water running through the gravel-filled moles to an outlet.
Our load of cattle this week made slightly less per kg than the load we sold just before Christmas.
Get more heifers in-calf, earlier – with synchronisation and fixed-time AI If you are looking to tighten your calving pattern, take a page from the Hession brothers outside Tuam, Co Galway.
