I’m beginning to think our slurry tank has some deceptive method of hiding the slurry level, because nearly every year we seem to be ticking along nicely and then all of a sudden it is worryingly close to the slats.

Only for the weanlings were all sold and we’ve a couple less cows than usual, we would have been in trouble a month ago. Fortunately, we were able to get a couple of loads out which will ease the pressure off for another while, hopefully long enough for the weather to buck up and think about being dry for a spell.

Our lone cull cow is finally ready for the off, the six weeks of feeding has begun to show on her in the last fortnight and we hope she’ll be around 700kg when sold at a special cow/bullock sale coming up in the local mart.

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She’s been happily picking around in a couple of fields near the shed and often she’s much happier chewing her cud in the midst of a downpour, with steam rising off her back, rather than bothering to walk into her pen.

As we spent the past 18 months in a TB hotspot zone, which required testing every four months, we rang up the local DVO to see if we were still flagged for contiguous testing. Our last test was back in early November meaning we were just around the time threshold and all we’d need is a test notification before we got her sold.

Thankfully, we are now in the clear, and bar another outbreak occurring in the surrounding area, we’ve no need to worry about another test until the end of this year.

We’ve always had a couple of badger setts on the farm, but they’ve never caused us any bother and every so often one will be trapped and checked, yet each time the results have returned as fully healthy, so we’ll continue to live amicably for another while. I am rather fond of our stripey faced neighbours and though they’re rarely seen, we have occasionally spotted boisterous young cubs frolicking in a meadow near the sett on late summer evenings.

While livestock usually receive a prompt visit from a vet, there’s a running joke in healthcare that if a farmer arrives at a doctor’s surgery voluntarily, they probably needed treatment days ago. Both myself and my father came down with the current dose that’s doing the rounds and though we both toughed it out for a few days, the two of us ended up traipsing into the health centre for a helping hand. In hindsight we gave all the weanlings vaccinations for pneumonia, but nobody in the house thought to get the flu vaccine for ourselves.

As we all know, a small suckler farm is not a viable income alone, and recently I took up employment in a local Rural Social Scheme (RSS) in the nearby community centre where I can work flexible hours around farm jobs.

There are gatherings most evenings but the most enjoyable to work was ‘Fit Farmers’ which was a six-week course recently. Similar to a mart minus the livestock, discussions before and after the meetings could vary from weather to wethers along with the ever topical factory prices and the Bord Bia saga. Certainly healthier for the body and mind than a night in watching TV or a couple of hours on a high stool.