With the silage all made, the cows and heifers scanned, the last of the fertiliser spread, the Ploughing over and with a fair idea of how the production year will turn out, the end of September is always a good time to look back at the farming year.

Busy is the one word that best describes this year to date. Busy because from once the cows started calving at the end of January until we got some decent rain in mid-August, we found ourselves constantly going.

March threw a once-in-a-lifetime snow storm at us, which was then followed by a very cold April with no grass growth that meant, like many farmers, we were on the hunt for silage. Thankfully, we only needed a few loads which we were able to source relatively easily.

Then in May when the weather eventually turned fine we got a huge surge of grass growth, which allowed us to make lot of good-quality silage in almost every week of that month. Finally the drought which started to hit us in mid-June caused growth rates to drop and eventually stop altogether.

We held off on feeding silage until late June and I distinctly remember saying to the guys back then: “Hey look on the bright side it’s not like we’ll be feeding it for a month.”

Ten weeks later we were finally able to take silage back out of the diet.

Mental work

While the physical work was tiring, it was the mental work that I found most challenging. When the day’s work was done I could go home, relax and rest the body, however the numerous challenges that surfaced during the year caused me constant worry and the need to think about and find solutions to those challenges made it very difficult to switch off and rest properly.

Luckily, I realised this before it came to a head and for me the coping mechanism that worked best was exercise. Exercise, to be more specific running, allowed me switch off, clear my head, help me rest and sleep better. Without a doubt deciding to take up exercise again was one of the most important decisions I made this year.

Worries far from over

Although most of this year has been tough, cows have milked well, they are in great condition, milk price has been good and we have our winter feed secured. However, for many farmers out there, and particularly those in the beef sector, this year’s worries are far from over.

Extra costs and opportunistic price cuts by beef processors have only served to undermine confidence across the entire sector. While co-ops have shown solidarity with their suppliers, the same cannot be said for the meat processors.

Year after year farmers in the beef sector have seen their competitiveness and margin eroded to the extent that today through no fault of their own a large proportion of them are now literally teetering on the edge of viability.