William and Andrew Cowx: Lambing completed and hoping for good weather

Shearing is the next job, but not until the end of the month as, with the cold weather, I think they will be glad to have their wool on.

The wool cheque should be better this year, but the shearers will no doubt want their pound of flesh.

Like lambing, calving has been a bit prolonged, with six cows still to calve. With no deaths, the calves are doing well. We have just put the bulls out with the first to calve and hope they prove more fertile than last year.

It is now midsummer, and while rain will be welcome in the South and East, I would prefer a spell of dry, warm weather to enable us to get our silage in.

The crops are heavy, flat and ready for cutting. The slurry tower is nearly overflowing and ready to go on the fields when cleared to try to save on fertiliser, as further rises are predicted.

Andrew and I spent a day with our Hill Farm Discussion Group, visiting two farms in Perthshire - both large by our standards. The first had a herd of about 1,000 suckler cows and a flock of sheep.

We saw some batches of tremendous cattle, all so uniform, and I think the best black Limousin cattle I have ever seen.

The second farm was not quite as big and keeps Luings and Simmental cattle and Lleyn sheep, with a lot of performance recording done to improve sale prices.

We were interested to see the Luings as we are thinking of putting some out on the hill. Both farms calved heifers at two years old. They did not look too big, and no calving problems were reported.

We went to North Sheep at Hexham. There was nothing particularly new, but plenty of people to talk to and it was good to see individual farmers with stands displaying their excellent stock.

Next week we will be going to the Royal Highland, where I will be judging the Limousin classes - a real honour. I will do my best, but after all it is one person’s opinion and I hope most people will agree with me.

The hot topic in the country seems to be public sector pensions. Why should they retire at 60 when we have to work until 66 and why should they have final salary pensions? We contribute through taxes, but don’t get the same benefits.

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