I am not sure at what point in January you stop wishing people a Happy New Year, and being half way through the month already, perhaps it is a past that point already.
Along with taking the Christmas decorations down on Twelfth Night, I might adopt the same date from now on.
Wishing for better weather for the New Year has not come true as yet.
The persistent heavy rain in our part of the country doesnt seem to want to let up, and with the mild temperatures, the majority of the farm resembles a grassy swamp.
It was, however, surprising to see on our local BBC weather forecast one evening last week, that some of the larger reservoirs in the south west are still well below their half capacity levels.
Our cattle are wintering well despite the unhealthy mild weather for housed stock. Our main livestock shed is very well ventilated, but with the damp sea air it has been necessary to clean out the covered yards more regularly than I can ever remember doing in previous winters.
Cattle health is paramount and, with pneumonia risk high in the younger calves, it does not pay to scrimp on clean straw. With the good yields of barley and wheat crops last year, we are hoping that to replenish our straw stocks there wont be as much as a hit on the bank balance this year as last winter.
In a normally quiet time for bull sales, we managed to squeeze in one final sale before the year end. Our main stock bull Giovanni went off to join a herd of traditional Herefords in east Dorset.
On one of the few nice and frosty winter days that we had in December, it was a picturesque sight as he was unloaded into a field with his new girlfriends, all resplendent with their long curved horns.
Finding a good home for our bulls is probably rather a sentimental notion in the often harsh world of farming, but we believe it is part of all the hard work that goes into rearing good stock.
Now that we are minus a senior stock bull, the search is on to find Giovannis replacement to run with our cows this coming spring.
It is certainly no easy job finding a bull that ticks all the boxes of conformation, locomotion and temperament along with the bloodlines that will be a good match with our herd.
Finding the time to travel country-wide to view possible new bulls is not straightforward in itself, with daily chores to be done and daylight hours still in short supply.
On the subject of new bloodlines, we are toying with idea of departing from our purely Hereford bred herd this year.
With the current glut of Hereford bulls on the market and more and more dairy herds disappearing and remaining ones using sexed semen by artificial insemination, it has presented the idea of introducing a commercial aspect into our breeding herd with the use of Angus or Beef Shorthorn genetics. The shopping list has just got a bit longer.
- Mike Harris is looking to step down from writing In Your Field columns this spring. If you are interested in replacing him this May, email FG editor Ben Briggs at [email protected]
