Whether involved in dairy, winter milk or even beef and drystock most farmers want to do as little as possible over the Christmas period and spend as much time as possible with family or friends.

This effectively means doing Sunday hours for over a week. This involves doing the basics such as feeding and milking, but avoiding, where possible tasks that can be done at a later date.

Obviously where milk is being produced over the winter, either in dedicated winter or liquid milk situations the workload is greatly increased and just doing the basics will take a lot longer than on farms where cows are dry.

Where cows are dry, feeding can be pushed out to every second or third day by placing more feed in front of the cows and simply pushing it in when required.

If silage is being fed with a shear-grab, keeping the silage in blocks at the feed-face will help to prevent secondary fermentation, which is the big fear when feeding out a lot of silage at once.

Make sure all automatic yard scraper units have enough oil and replace any damaged pipes before they burst. Inevitably these will burst at a time that you least need it.

Check oil levels in tractors and other machinery and check that there is enough diesel in the tanks to get through Christmas and beyond.

The same applies to meal and other purchased feedstuffs. There is some talk of meal prices rising in the new year so perhaps meal should be ordered early in January to take maximum advantage of the lower prices.

Finally, adjust the work roster to give as much time off as possible to all staff over Christmas.

Wishing everyone a happy, safe and peaceful Christmas this year.