Spring on the farm
Stand in the Gap
Kathleen Duffy
What a spring it’s been. The sun has never shone so bright for so many days, great for the solar panels! After a dry but cold and windy March, the warmer, dry days of April have been more than welcome. The countryside is waking up, hedgerows are dusted with yellow from the whin bushes and wild primroses, and the blackthorn’s white blossom is a real treat for the eyes. The woods are shyly coming to life with an abundance of bluebells.
Although the evenings are stretching, there’s still a nip in the air and occasionally a hard frost once the sun goes down. The heavy rain in the run up to Easter - dare I say it - badly needed for grass growth.
The Magnolia tree at the back gate, planted in memory of my mother, is in bloom again. It always stops me in my tracks, especially now that it’s visible from the road. Not to be outdone, the cherry blossom across from it is coming into its own too, a lovely reminder of springs past and how quickly time moves on.
The birds are singing again and the dawn chorus is greeting us each morning, and although I haven’t heard the cuckoo just yet, others in the area say they’ve had the pleasure. The swallows are late arriving this year, maybe the cold nights are holding them back.
In the orchard, the fruit trees are flowering with the plum trees in beautiful white, while the apple and damson trees have the leaves developing. We’re hopeful the recent frost will not damage them. There is still a cut of frost in the air, and this dry period has caused its own problems with very strong North-East winds.
On the Farm
Calving is not fully wrapped up yet with a few stragglers. All the calves are healthy, and it’s a relief to see them thriving after the long lead-up. There are over 100 calves born and the first 40 calves, all sired by sexed semen, are the replacement heifers which are kept for breeding end of spring next year. Not all will be needed but some can be sold when in-calf next year. The beef calves are sold off, mainly Aberdeen Angus.
We watch Carnaross mart and sometimes Ballyjamesduff mart online to see what price calves are making. The prices are brilliant at present, never seen before and great to get a good reward for all the hard work. These sale prices really go up and down depending on the breed and quality of the calves and if there are online bidders.
With dry fields underfoot, full time turnout of the cows came a bit earlier this year, a blessing when you’re running short on space and patience. Nights are still chilly, and that’s slowed grass growth more than we’d like. We’re walking a fine line, watching grass covers carefully and supplementing with meal and maize silage to keep everything ticking over until growth picks up. The meal is dear but it helps with fertility, to have the cows in perfect body condition.
We have to vaccinate but no tail painting as the robot alerts any cow in heat. The one year old heifers are starting their journey into the cow herd, and they have just been let out to the outlying land in Cross.
Fertiliser is going out as paddocks that are grazed, we use protected urea all the time. The soil samples show a few fields low in P so that needs to be fixed. We are putting in maize this year.
Online schemes
All Agfood schemes are online. We just got the nitrates derogation application done, with many new features to be uploaded, including the fertiliser plan and soil samples, along with the fertiliser and feed purchases for 2024. Next is the BISS CRISS ECO, again online for farmers and the maps are out.
Milk volumes are steady but Lakeland’s is holding price for now, though we’re all watching closely to see what the new changes in GEAC 2 as far as peatland is concerned in the long term.
This may affect ACRES and everyone has a bit of peatland or wetland someplace. Farmers are under pressure, not just from policy changes but from the sheer weight of labour and paperwork. As one neighbour put it, managing 80 cows well is a full-time job on its own. Wise words.
In the Show Centre
Saturday will see the return of Emerald Expo to the Show Centre. It will be great to meet the many exhibitors who show in the Baileys Champion Cow Competition each year.
We are also celebrating the success story of McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles basketball club teams, champions all, and we look forward to hosting many basketball events here on our state of the art sports floor at Virginia Show Centre.
Voluntary and sporting organisations are very busy at present as activities open up. Our Centre is busy and hope to have many more events as we have multi-purpose accommodation for all groups.
ChatGPT
For the fun of things, I asked our student who is studying Digital Business to run a previous article I have written and see what would it turn out like. Many young people are using this instead of Google. So you never know if what you are reading is penned by a robot.
Below is an example of what was generated:
‘As always, spring brings a mix of promise and pressure, but the signs of new life — in the fields, the orchards, and the hedgerows — remind us why we keep at it.
‘Here’s to a strong season ahead and a bit of warmth in the evenings to keep us all going’ - Chat GPT.