The National Ploughing Championships is always a sign that winter is fast approaching and that it’s time to start preparing for housing.

Though with the recent wet spell, as we could witness in coverage of the mud-splattered spectators at the Ploughing site, there are certainly cattle housed in some areas already.

As my experience in ploughing is limited to occasional use of a loy, I don’t often make the journey to the event and, for once, I was glad to sit at home beside the fire and watch highlights online.

It’s probably just as good I didn’t go as on Tuesday night; I ended up having to assist the local vet with a difficult calving here. Our last of the year, a pedigree Limousin heifer, decided in the midst of a stormy night that she was going to get the ordeal over and done with, though that was easier said than done. Once I handled her and felt the size of the calf, I knew we weren’t going to have a simple job on our hands.

One of the more important parts of farm work is knowing when something is past your ability before you go too far into a job, be that tractor mechanics, traversing wet land, working on buildings or in this case, calving an animal.

Veterinary assistance

Again, I am extremely grateful for the excellent veterinary service we receive here and within half an hour of phoning the vet, she was in the shed and eyeing up the midnight task about to unfold.

Thankfully, with myself on the jack and her working the calf, we successfully delivered a big bouncing bull, one I’ve been breeding towards for quite a number of years now via selective bulls. Fingers crossed he’ll live up to his genetics, with both maternal and muscular lineage in his ancestry.

Preparations for selling our first few weanlings are also under way, with the oldest being taken inside and weaned. As all calves have been eating ration since July, it’s been relatively easy so far. I don’t live next to the shed like my parents do, so they might beg to differ about noise levels.

Prior to weaning these calves, we were obliged to weigh all stock for the SCEP scheme. This has turned into quite a routine affair, as we’ve been doing it for a few years at this stage.

There were no standout weights, with the two eldest calves predictably being over 400kg each, at eight and nine months of age. With the trade for weanling bulls remaining strong, these two, along with one other strong bull calf, will be sold at the beginning of October. Last Sunday evening, following yet another downpour, I took advantage of a break in the weather to herd the cattle. Looking down upon them from the top of a hill, all was quiet and I turned around to head home.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of frantic splashing behind me and I glanced back to see the whole herd tearing across the field behind me with what looked like a large dog running in their midst.

To my astonishment as it came closer, I realised it was a yearling doe which pleased neither the cattle nor myself.

With their reputation for carrying TB, I am already thinking about next year’s herd test.