Scanning was completed on the cows last week, and there’s a clearer picture of what to expect next March and April. It will be busy for those few weeks and hopefully the weather next spring will be a bit kinder than this year’s.

Challenging as it was, it forced a few changes to the system here that worked out well and will be rolled out again.

It mainly involved changing what stock went where for the year and much of it made sense and ultimately saved on labour. Other learnings from last spring are only being implemented now and focus on housing management.

Weaned cows

Over the last few years, some weaned cows would have remained in after weaning, particularly the younger cows. This year they will all get a spell outside, reducing both slurry and silage demands.

They’ve all gone back out to grass and will remain out for as long as grass and weather allow. They’re in small groups and a share of them could do with losing condition.

They’re content outside too, even on lower covers. The forecast for this week looks promising, so the priority now is to try and graze off the farm as best as possible.

A few paddocks have been set aside for the stock bulls. The plan is to leave them out for the winter. I’ve housed them with the cows they were with for the last two years, and noticed they became very territorial. That’s ok in a two or three acre field, but less so in the confines of a pen in the shed.

I don’t know if any of the above would be classed as best practice or not, but it suits the situation.

Weaning is winding down and the heifer calves from the older cows are the only group of the 2024-born stock left at grass. Unless weather deteriorates dramatically, they should get at least another fortnight out, if not longer.

Heifers

This year, the heifers have an edge on the bulls in terms of their evenness as a group. They’re a bit more robust too and only one has had a worm dose to date.

There are two that are a little behind the rest. One is a half twin that was one of the last calves born, and the other is from a cow that dried up earlier in the summer. Aside from those, it’s like peas in a pod.

That’s what I want to see, and they will put pressure on the cows. Any breeding decisions for those heifers will be held over till spring, but it’s a comfortable position to be in.

The bull calves are all weaned and are gone to the young stock yard. I must take a few dung samples this week and sort out dosing and hopefully most of their crush work should be down to weighing after that.

Off farm, I’ve the political anorak on, keeping an eye on when an election will be called here. The election that has become a reality show across the Atlantic is also interesting.

I think regardless of the result, it is likely to have a bigger impact on the EU than the European elections that took place earlier this year. From a farming perspective it could impact more on the next CAP than any internal goings on within the EU.