It’s like February with sun and long evenings at the moment. The early months of this year are very similar to 2013 with low temperatures and cold winds heading into May. The one huge difference is there is fodder available on most farms. The last few weeks have been busier than usual with cattle going out of sheds as numbers move off to the rented ground.

The 2016 calving season is slowly but surely coming to an end, with one left to calve and preparations have begun for 2017. The first bull went out with the heifers this week and these averaged 379kg, which I was happy with. Slurry and fertiliser has been spread on the silage ground.

They had been on under 1kg/day all winter and only got this for 10 days since the beginning of March. I believe if they’re old enough they’re good enough, rather than bulling at a percentage of their body weight.

Grass seed was stitched in after slurry on a piece of rough ground so it will be interesting to see how this goes. This was the first time using this method. The land in question isn’t suitable for many forms of tilling so we took a chance and will see what will happen.

The breeding bulls left their winter quarters at the weekend. This is a piece of extremely hilly ground that is dominated by furze bushes since my grand uncle stopped grazing it in the 1950s.

A bit of it was cleared by the ESB putting in poles a few years ago, so we let the bulls in and gradually they have been exploring their way into it. A bale of silage every week kept them going over the winter and they exited this “bull shed” in ideal condition for the upcoming breeding season.

Last year, I scattered grass seed on the area and now I’m toying with the idea of mixing kale seed through grass seed and closing this off until next autumn.

I think, at times, we underestimate how hardy a plant grass can be but if the soil there can grow a woody shrub like a furze bush it can surely grow grass. If the kale works it will cut down a little on the silage required there and if it doesn’t work then I’ll know not to try again.

Macra na Feirme’s leadership school delivered again last week with the election of Joe Healy and Richard Kennedy to high office within the IFA. While disregarded by many, the organisation offers real-time learning in how to deal with people and bring them together to achieve a common goal.

It’s a bit like work experience – you can read all you want about leadership and people management but dealing with it firsthand is a greater challenge. You also learn a lot about your own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of others.

Strong leadership and honesty from all organisations is paramount this year in particular. I wonder will 2016 be to Irish agriculture what 2008 was to the Celtic Tiger’s building boom. It has the potential to be but once farmers work on their cashflow budgets and stay on top of finances they should see it through.