We finally sold our dry cow and even though none of us would be experts at weighing cows by eye, we were quite disappointed when she only tipped the scales at 620kg.

If she wasn’t fed over the last couple of months she’d have been extremely light, but we had a price per kilo of €4.20 in mind and we did achieve that which is the important part. Hopefully it’ll be late autumn before we have anything further to leave the yard.

She wasn’t out of the shed 12 hours before a replacement for her was fast approaching, as one was moved out to the calving pen that evening. Having a small herd means we know each animal quite well and though this lady wasn’t scanned, we’d picked her out as being quite heavy in-calf and was likely carrying a bull calf.

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She’d also held to a Limousin sire we had no previous experience of and as she needed aid at calving in the past, we took her out where she could be restrained safely in case our suspicion turned out to be correct and a helping hand was needed.

Our calving jack has given us reliable service for 30 years and we’d been meaning to replace it this spring, so I picked one up at the vets when passing through town the next morning. I’d only arrived home and put on my wellingtons when Dad asked me for an opinion on the cow as she was looking sick, but not presenting any imminent signs of calving.

After a quick rummage in the cow, I’d straightened out two bent front legs, but I had an inkling it wasn’t going to be as simple as that. The cow had yet to pass the water bag and with the calf showing signs of meconium staining we called for the vet to be on the safe side.

The new jack barely had time to be put together before it was in use and a fine, chunky bull calf was duly delivered, so it’s no wonder the vet looked doubtful when I asked him to check for a second. The cow was only 10 days overdue and that nagging thought in our heads turned out to be correct, as the vet could just about feel a second pair of feet when shoulder deep.

A second bull calf, larger than the first, landed shortly after and both were up and sucking within the hour with one rather bewildered cow trying to keep an eye on both while they ran rings around her. She’s never been overly flush with milk so it looks like we have replaced feeding one cow with another though at least this one has a more joyful reason.

I suppose common sense would be to sell one calf but both calves not only stood up within seconds of each other but also latched onto the cow right after each other and it’d be unkind to split them at this stage.

Normally at this time of year we’d be looking towards getting the first stock out but it doesn’t look likely to be anytime soon, with another cold snap and wintry showers forecast this week.

After a few days of sun and even enough heat to go around in short sleeves without risk of hypothermia, we’d nearly convinced ourselves into thinking winter was over and the old geansaí could be put away for a few months.

Sadly, it looks likely to remain around for a while longer and if the price of fuel continues to rise, we may all invest in a few more, along with some stout shoes for local travel.