It always happens – pride comes before a fall. Last week, we were commenting on the improvement in mortality since we began implementing a herd health plan.

That is in reality a grandiose way of saying we took a view of what treatments we would administer on a routine basis to the herd in the hope of avoiding emergency veterinary call-outs and costly lack of thrive in individual cattle.

The dead bull

However, on Sunday, we found a bull just back in the sheds to begin his final finishing period, dead. He had been off-colour and getting treatment but our vet came to the conclusion that with the IBR vaccine reaching the ends of its useful life (12 months is the time of maximum effectiveness), IBR was the cause of death. As I see it, we have little option now but to vaccinate all stock.

New weanlings are done on arrival but we do not routinely vaccinate the bulls going to the factory between now and Christmas. This is now going to change.

Tillage

On the tillage side, harvest 2017 is now beginning to fade from memory. In the few dry days, we got all the wheaten straw baled – it will in time all go for the mushroom business though there is still some of the reek of last year’s straw there.

I looked at the contract to supply straw for the heat and power market but we are quite a distance from the plant and 15 years is a long time to tie oneself into a contract even though a reported €60/t seems relatively attractive.

I must admit I am totally in favour of the initiative as hopefully it will put some kind of floor under straw prices.

The straw

We have sold the oaten straw on the flat. It has been turned but dryness is crucial in the big 8x4x4 bales so my customer is looking for perfection. I hope he achieves it as I want the field cleared and a chance to clean up the margin of gluten-free oats we left around the headland.

We still have to harvest the beans, which are about a fortnight away.

I used Roundup to bring them in but over the last couple of years I have found they have ripened naturally and in reasonable time so my aim was to avoid it this year as well.

But we have a lot of green stems, as we had in the oilseed rape, so it will go out immediately.

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