A springtime to forget

STAND IN THE GAP

Kathleen Duffy

Oh, what a late spring! It has been the worst March and April I can recall weather wise. The grass did grow, but the ground was too wet to put out fertilizer and slurry until the few good days last week. We have plenty of silage and have just fertilised the silage ground. The farm is very busy and we are glad to have a student to help out. It is a lot of work running both the robot and the milking parlour. There are over 100 calves born this spring with another four to calve this week. The first 22 calves all sired by sexed semen are the replacement heifers which are kept for breeding end of spring next year. The rest are sold off, mainly Aberdeen Angus from our two stock bulls bought from Leo down the road. We also used a few AI Angus bulls as back up.

We watch Carnaross Mart and sometimes Ballyjamesduff Mart online to see what price calves are making. These sale prices really go up and down depending on the breed and quality of the calves and if there are online bidders. You can be so lucky or unlucky. We sell as much as we can from the farm, but most of our locals have their quotas full now.

In the garden, the magnolia is in full bloom, and the majestic cherry blossom is dancing in the wind and rain. Its flowers have all too short a life as the petals will scatter to create a carpet of pink on driveways. On a positive note, it is great to see a stretch in the evenings and Bruise Hill starting its yellow furze cap giving shelter during winter to the green fields. The whin bushes (or Furze) and the wild mayflowers and primroses are peeping out from beneath the hedge rows.

The fruit trees are trying to flower with the plum trees coming in a beautiful white blossom, while the apple and damson trees have just started to come alive. The apple trees and the rose bushes got their short back and side pruning cuts. The birds are in full song from their perches and are a tonic to listen to in both town and country, and happily the swallows have arrived.

Farming

Thank God the cows are out again, because we had seen a drop in milk volume and protein while they were housed. Unfortunately we also have milk price decreases to contend with as Lakeland dropped the price again in March. While we are not expecting the high price received at end of last year, no one else would work all hours during spring for less money. The volatility in farm price taking relative to the workload is hard to stomach.

We have to vaccinate but no tail painting as the robot alerts any cow in heat. We have started the second rotation grass without grazing the last paddock, we need time to do an up-to-date grass walk as we are supplementing the grass with silage, and the cows are getting 5kg meal. The meal is dear but it helps with fertility, to have the cows in perfect body condition. 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. Most farmers either run a bull or use an easy calving A.I. sire on them. We may tail paint them as part of the observations for heat detection.

The simple Single Farm Payment (SPS) is now being replaced by BISS, (Basic income Support for Sustainability) CRISS (Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability) and ECO scheme and all is online for all farmers. The new maps are out, but farmers will need help as there are many changes for scrub or rough land. We have a partnership for the farm but when I went into Agfood online there were no details showing, so I rang Portlaoise and they said go to the Department of Agriculture one-to-one sessions last Friday in Cavan. After queuing for over an hour we were told that partnerships were meant to go live but this hasn’t happened yet maybe next week. So much for sustainability!

We are also looking at the solar panels as the cost of electricity has gone sky high, it will probably go on the long finger. There is a special TAMS grant with 60% grant aid under the Solar Capital Investment Scheme, there are reference costs and limits against the panels and the batteries, but you are not allowed export it. So you cannot help the neighbour and not even the house and calf shed as they are on a separate MPRN even though it is right beside the dairy.

Community

On the community front, we had a lovely reunion of the Portrait of a Parish, Mullagh Co Cavan Historical committee and Cross ICA members. We compiled this hardback book 35 years ago and still have great memories of the five years we spent, bringing it all together. It was printed by The Anglo-Celt and the late Willie O'Hanlon and staff who courteously accepted the many changes from the 15 women committee who researched and published the book.

I am now a member of Maghera ICA and we are doing pottery classes at present which are very enjoyable. It is great to get out and meet old friends and have the chat and the cuppa.