While we were spared the torrential rain that fell over Christmas in Wexford, we had enough to start drains flowing for the first time since last spring. I always feel slightly vulnerable, as we rely on our own well for water for both the cattle and the house.

With no access to a public mains, running out of water would be extremely serious, to put it at its mildest.

We have put in a small, inexpensive petrol-driven generator that we can turn on to operate the pump in the event of an electricity outage, but that’s of little use if the water supply dries up, so it is with some relief that the land is at what’s termed ‘field capacity’.

I assume that the underground aquifers are also being recharged.

On the cattle side, we have now put the first lot of Angus cross steers on their full finishing diet

Apart from the generator, we have also fitted a filter to the outlet of the pump to remove the fine sand that was inclined to occasionally block the sprayer for the crops – all the water-associated works costs, which of course urban households do not pay for in any way, but that’s another issue.

On the cattle side, we have now put the first lot of Angus cross steers on their full finishing diet. I reckon they will be on it for about six weeks, with a target liveweight of around 660kg and a kill out of around 330-340kg.

At present grain prices, we will wait until we have a liveweight of about 580kg before going on to the final finishing phase. As I mentioned before, our silage is good and we have dramatically reduced our concentrate purchases with the change from young bulls to relatively mature steers – how much profit will be in it at the end of the day will be anxiously watched. Meanwhile, last week we had another assessment about whether or not a planned solar farm should go ahead.

Almost five years ago, I gave an option to a company to lease land for a solar installation.

A few days before Christmas, a small digger came out so an archaeologist could inspect some features that appeared on a drone-operated LiDAR survey

They are responsible for all the planning aspects of the project as well as construction and linking the output to the grid, presuming permission is granted. The various environmental assessments are certainly comprehensive and inevitably expensive.

A few days before Christmas, a small digger came out so an archaeologist could inspect some features that appeared on a drone-operated LiDAR survey. About eight separate holes were dug, but apparently nothing of enough interest to derail the project was found, so presumably all is still on track.