There are days on the farm when it’s all go and I love them. This time I could only look on as I continued to recuperate from surgery. Over the last few weeks, the grass has jumped out of the ground resulting in a surplus everywhere. That’s farming; ever changing and challenging while inspiring action. Every other day, when my husband Tim and son Colm were in the same room, the discussion was about which plots to take out.

The decisions were made. Eleven acres at home and 11ac on the leased farm would be knocked

It was a changing feast as growth surpassed the cows demand and grass got too heavy to graze. The grass wedge was studied and the new tool that has been added to Teagasc’s PastureBase which allows farmers to plot a week ahead was employed. It is yet another advancement for accuracy of grazing management. The decisions were made. Eleven acres at home and 11ac on the leased farm would be knocked along with two other pieces that are rented for silage and grazing with stock other than cows. The total came to 50ac. The majority of it would make quality bales for feeding at the back end of the year while the cows will be still milking but grass growth will be slowing.

There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for a contractor to come, watching the fine weather window disappearing

The contractor Adrian was given two weeks’ notice. This is important for contractors to be able to plan to deliver service on time. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for a contractor to come, watching the fine weather window disappearing.

An ant experience

The grass was mowed on Thursday. The contractors arrived to bale, collect and wrap on Saturday. Conditions were excellent. Colm and Tim were readying gates and wires. They were on their way to the leased farm in Colm’s station wagon when Tim realised he’d forgotten to bring a safety marking cone for one of the gates. It was a blind enough exit onto the public road. He decided to “borrow” one. Colm was having none of it telling Tim, he’d not be party to his crimes! You can imagine the banter between father and son.

A compromise was found. There was a cone marking a pier where a new house was being built. The gates were closed and there was no activity there for the weekend. That cone would do the trick. Tim picked up the cone and threw it into the back of the car.

Once home my Dyson was taken to remove the busy ants from the car

Then he realised that his shoulder was covered in ants as they began to run down his arm. The cone had been sitting on an ant hill. The ants were none too happy with the disturbance. The cone was put to work at the exit. Once home my Dyson was taken to remove the busy ants from the car. Elaine, Colm’s fiancé, did not like the idea of a lot of ants in the car. One ant she could cope with but not huge numbers.

The contractors worked until well after midnight. The flashing lights danced on the ceiling over our bed providing great distraction from my discomfort. The bulls in the shed that have been retired from breeding added their own music. Then all went quiet.

Borrowed cone returned

On Sunday morning, Tim was up early saying he had wires and gates and stuff to sort out. It was a beautiful day and I decided to rouse myself and go along for the spin. That was how I found out about the cone episode. We toured around closing gates and wires and replaced the cone on the anthill. It had travelled about 3km. I counted 13 cones along the stretch.

Colm emptied the Dyson out in the garden where the ants might build a new colony if they were lucky enough to have a queen among them. They will not be allowed into another colony.

Two hundred and twenty two silage bales have completed the winter feed requirement

They are fascinating creatures. They lay down a chemical trail for the rest of the ants to follow when they find food. So if you want to keep them out of the house remove any food sources and give a good wash down to remove the chemical trail. But enough about ants.

Two hundred and twenty two silage bales have completed the winter feed requirement. As I look out this morning, I have the most amazing lawn! Of course that hasn’t been the focus of the exercise but it’s a nice bonus. More importantly, there’s lovely soft rain falling to encourage regrowth.

Mother Nature does it all right sometimes!