Wind and rain have been a constant since the turn of the month. I’m not a fan of easterly winds. The house and yard are the first buildings hit as it blows in straight from the cove. It makes lighting a fire in the living room impossible because of the amount of smoke it sends back down the chimney. Lately I’ve also noticed a drop in phone reception whenever wind comes from that direction. Plenty of reasons to get out of the house for a while.

The recent herd test threw up two inconclusives so the herd remains locked up.

This would have been a much more traumatic event in the days before we began finishing cattle. We know now what is possible so the inconvenience of testing is more what annoys me now. If there was a positive from the event, it was that it proved to be an extra test of the weanling heifers’ temperaments.

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A few have knocked themselves out of contention for a place in the cow herd on the back of being too jumpy in the crush and holding yard. Having zero tolerance for wilder stock is one way to reduce the risks of accidents on the farm.

It was an area we were too lax on years ago and I nearly paid a very high price myself for it 12 years ago. The first step to reducing accidents is to reduce the risks. Unfortunately, they will still occur.

In terms of workload, it has been a far calmer February than I am used to. Calving got under way with a heifer who was the first-born calf in 2015 starting things off. There are about a dozen other heifers due shortly, so I’m hoping the others will follow her lead. Once there’s a group together, they will go on-off grazing.

It’s certainly a contrast to last year, when a quarter of the herd calved by St Valentine’s Day. So far this year there is one calf on the ground.

There are two reasons for this slowdown.

One is deliberate and the other partly accidental. We had intended to calve heifers at the start and hold the cows until around 20 February, which would have been the start time for calving in our pre-shed days. An unexpected sub-fertile bull with the main group of cows last May will see most of them slip to April instead. Our reason to go later with calving was to suit the facilities a bit better. The last few springs have been difficult in terms of wind and rain and the farm is very exposed, especially to easterly winds. Shed space is limited for cow calf units to the point where, more often than not, things got uncomfortable if weather did not go to plan.

This was putting unnecessary pressure on both man and beast and extra investment in steel and concrete wouldn’t be required if we worked a little bit more in line with nature.

It also means a different plan with regards the grazing plan. As there were three weanling bulls outwintered with the stock bulls, they have gone to grass, as have two cows who showed up empty.

Once a break comes in the weather, the cull heifers and breeding heifers will also get out where they are. I’m also considering leaving some of the late cows out for a while.

There have never been such heavy grass covers this early in the year. It’s about time I started taking advantage of them.