Calving is on the wind down, the first lot of bulls are gone and hopefully the rest of the cattle that need to go to the out block will be moved before the weekend.

Yard life will begin to wind down a little bit again and within a few weeks, the first bit of silage should be in the bank for next winter.

Within a month from now, breeding should have got underway and 2026 plans will become real.

The older I get, the quicker it seems all these milestones of the farming year come around.

Changes

My short-term target, or hope, is that there will be a bit of time between the last cow calving and breeding starting. I’ve gotten close, but never attained that gap yet as a few stragglers love to drift into May.

Most worked out, but the run up to breeding is the time where I become more envious of those who have all their land in one block

There were a few changes to the standard breeding routine on this farm over the last two or three years. Some intentional, others accidental and a few that were borne out of necessity and convenience.

Most worked out, but the run up to breeding is the time where I become more envious of those who have all their land in one block. What cows stay home for artificial insemination (AI) and which ones go out to the out-farm with a bull need to be decided upon. Once they’re off the home ground, they’re gone for the year. Yes, they could be brought back if needed, but the amount of time and effort that requires can’t be justified. Make the call at the start of the breeding season and stick to it. There’s an abundance of grass there and it’s a longer haul to be taking bales out if there’s surplus grass

Given there’s extra grass there, the heifers that won’t be considered for breeding and the cull cows are heading to that ground too. There’s an abundance of grass there and it’s a longer haul to be taking bales out if there’s surplus grass, so the plan is to send them there for three to four months and bring them back out of it as a group after if needed.

First calvers

The fact those young stock are going there means there’ll be fewer cows and calves there this year. Keeping the first calvers at home worked well last year so that will be repeated and there’ll be a six- or seven-week run of AI and that’s it. It means some of the late calvers will only get one chance at being bulled but that’s the only way to tidy things up.

There’s only a handful left to calve so they should surely be fit for a bull by the end of June.

Cow figures

I wasn’t overly surprised to see that cattle numbers in the country are down. It’s been on the cards for a while and the presence of bluetongue on the continent has created a demand there and driven on exports that have helped reduce numbers. If anything happens the flow of exports out of the country it could stem the fall off in the national cattle population.

Policy decisions across the European Union, lack of financial viability and succession issues are all factors at play. The current prices are giving a great confidence boost to the sector and may go some way to helping retain breeding stock on farms in both bovine disciplines but is probably too late in many cases.

That will present opportunities for those who remain involved. That’s not to say it will be easy, as access to land will still remain a limiting factor. We might as well enjoy this spell for as long as it lasts because it has been a long time coming.