Not before time, a colder snap has moved in and it’s beginning to feel a little more like winter without the damp and mild conditions we’d been having recently, though for a change the northwest didn’t get the worst of the flooding.

Grass growth continued unabated after the cattle were housed so if we get a spell of dry colder weather, the lighter stock may find themselves turfed out of their luxurious B&B accommodation for a week.

It’s the season of silage again, and storing the wrap for recycling is always a messy business, but my father has devised a foolproof way to stockpile them until next year. While holding the bale on the front loader, we cut the bottom flat of the plastic, then drop the bale on that end and, like removing a woolly cap, pull the remaining plastic off using the spikes, leaving a handy bag we’ve hung on a gate. The plastic is then folded/rolled and placed in, leaving a fully recyclable ‘bale’ of wrap that can be loaded onto a trailer easily.

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With our third herd test of the year looming, we decided to let the oldest of our weanlings go, just in case the worst happened and we were locked up until next year. At seven months and 360kg he was quite the looker, and didn’t disappoint in the ring, finally selling for a few cents under €7/kg.

It really highlighted just how much the cattle trade has shot up when a full brother of his (which could have been his twin) was sold last August at 13 months old and 675kg, and the hammer fell a couple of hundred off the price this calf got.

Conference

The Women in Agriculture event in Carrick-on-Shannon exceeded expectations, and although it can be rather daunting for a person to speak about their farming experiences and challenges to a roomful of unfamiliar people, after all the engagement and discussion, none of us left as strangers to each other.

Hearing such diverse accounts of how different women came into farming was fascinating which varied from marriage, birthright or an innovative idea to pure grit and determination to succeed in a field they wanted to work in.

Hopefully many more similar events will take root and grow from this initiative and provide encouragement and support to women around Ireland who often prop up a farm from inside the house.

While most of us live in a digital age these days and carry the equivalent of a laptop on our person at all times, after three years of getting lost, dropped, half drowned and covered in muck my trusty mobile phone gave up the ghost last week.

Cheap and cheerful is my go-to as anything costing more than a hundred euro is a liability for me to carry on a daily basis around a farm so I had to patiently wait for a robust, refurbished and water resistant replacement to be delivered along with the brightest, most garish cover I could find.

Experience has taught me that a bright phone cover can be spotted easily in comparison to a sleek and fashionable dark design and my old neon pink case saved my phone many times over the years.

A quiet few days was very enjoyable, however the deluge of messages once I had the new phone up and running was nearly enough to tempt me into misplacing it for a further few days.