Changes on the way
We are in the New Year, the weather has been mixed but we are beginning to see a stretch in the days, the first of the snowdrops and daffodils are trying to peep through the frosted ground.
What a year it has been, we will need time to fully comprehend what has happening since March 2020.
It was the first year that only three of us sat down to the Christmas dinner. We normally have all the families visit us on Christmas Eve and Christmas Night. The house is always full. This year was such a change for us all, but our efforts didn’t stop this third lockdown happening and the dreadful escalation of death and illness.
No Christmas Mass nor service except online, no attendance at funerals, even though we did stand out on the side of the road at our own house to try to pay some mark of respect to the deceased, writing condolences on RIP.ie as a number of our own neighbours passed away, not all from COVID.
It is good that services for the dead are being streamed online especially for family members who cannot attend, relations from abroad, friends and neighbours.
We lost a special neighbour and friend who was an avid reader of The Anglo-Celt often giving me stories from the marts and many other exploits he took part in. We will miss them all.
Farming
So far this year farming meetings and training events have been by webinar and Zoom calls.
There are many changes to be made on new nitrate regulations. The changes are going to affect many and will bring new farmers into derogation. Other changes to age old practices are on the way. Straw is going to be ploughed back into the ground in a pilot scheme announced.
We are seeing the end of peat briquettes, a stable commodity in many Irish household, due to the end of Bord na Mona peat extraction. There are new policies and directives on fertilizers and clover. Even with all this we will not see a new CAP till 2023, so it could bring far more change too. There are pilot schemes for rewetting boglands, such a change from the times when we were growing up and farmers worked hard trying to drain “bad” land and make good farmland.
As the days stretch, we are quickly getting to the beginning of February, the start of calving, I hope for a much better year, weather wise and health wise. The calving shed is power washed and ready for calving. Routine cow vaccines are nearly completed and the dosing is finished as well. It is a job to record all with batch numbers, expiry dates and withdrawal dates.
We are all having our Bord Bia inspections online taking photos and uploading drugs lists etc. Most of our time working with AgriNet HerdAPP is for Bord Bia inspections, but this will change as we see the first of the Spring farmers start to calve. There are many shorter gestation bulls now that bring a calf before it’s time. We are getting the farm roadways updated to comply with the changes in nitrates.
We are hoping to do soil sampling before end of January to establish the P & K index of the land as there is a need to reduce slurry and fertilizer use. Teagasc say the optimum is index 3 for both but has stated few farms meet this level. The Irish soil is very precious as soil erosion is a major problem in the rest of the world.
Hobbies
Lockdown is an opportunity to find new hobbies or upskill others like cooking or crafts. Facebook dedicated sites like Crafts of Ireland run by Sandra Coote from Knocknaveigh have great followings and embraces the new way of learning. This lockdown may continue for some time to come, so we may start using Zoom. Cavan Sports Partnership are trying to get us fit, but internet speeds are such a problem in so many households. When I retire I plan on enjoying learning new skills or reactivating old ones.