This spring was the first time we had a stray swarm of bees set up residence under the roof of the house and work their way into a bedroom.

At first, I thought it was a nest of wasps, but a local member of the Bees Association came out to have a look and said it was definitely bees and as they are a protected species with a totally different living pattern, the whole process turned out to be much more complicated than I expected.

The main aim was to identify and remove the queen, which needed expertise and full protective clothing, as well as a cherry picker to get up to the roof and a specialist slater who had to remove several slates at the base of the chimney so that the beekeeper could identify where the queen was and remove her.

It all took quite a while and despite the beekeeper generously refusing any payment, I could hardly expect the roof specialist and the cherry picker to be free of charge.

An interesting experience and hopefully not to be repeated.

2025 harvest

Depending on conditions, the 2025 harvest could be starting within eight weeks. The winter barley, in just a few days, has fully emerged. We have done everything we can to maximise yield and the sunny days and cool nights should be ideal for the crop.

The main factor which we can do nothing about is the disappointing forward prices.

Clearly the threat of American feed grains having no Chinese outlet is hanging over the market. But that’s in the political domain.

The oilseed rape is now at petal fall and the glorious vibrant yellow will slowly turn into a murky brown over the next few weeks.

There is quite a bit of oilseed rape in the area, so we have taken the precaution of putting on a sclerotinia treatment, and thanks to a neighbour with a self-propelled, high-clearance unit we did no damage.

The next time we go into the oilseed rape will be to roundup it to take out the weeds before harvest. At this stage, some rain would probably help the oats and certainly the beans, but so far both are making progress.

On the cattle side, it seems that the threatened fall in beef prices is not going to happen at least at this stage. We will continue to sell as they become fit, but the trade is so variable this year it means we have to keep closely in touch with the market and have to negotiate over each load.

Price premium

I would rather the system where we were guaranteed a price premium related to the quoted price in the Irish Farmers Journal tables, but that’s not on offer this year. Outside, grass growth has been excellent.

We are moving on the stores to a fresh paddock each day, but we will have to make up our minds soon whether we skip some paddocks and save them for hay or baled silage.

I must admit we have never made baled silage having spent a lot on walls, concrete bases and effluent channels over the years, so if the strong growth continues, we will probably opt for extra hay.