Like many farmers across our fair isle, we took the plunge of trying for hay while the sun was shining, and though it didn’t get close to breaking any high temperature records around here, I’m pretty sure that if we had hens, they’d be laying omelettes.

A perfect time for building character, or cocks of hay as they are also known. Luckily for me, I had the excuse of an infant daughter keeping me away from the hardship, but despite a lack of interest my father mowed and raked up a small paddock area into mounds with the aid of my very patient mother.

Our original plan had been to mow all of the remaining meadows, but with everyone looking for him at once, our poor contractor was under too much pressure so two of our wetter fields were once again skipped over until another dry spell appears.

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A hasty decision was made to bale everything

Even so, anxious eyes were looking skywards as the baler arrived to a larger hayfield of ours. While thunder rumbled, drops of rain fell and the sky darkened around us, a hasty decision was made to bale everything which left fading sunburn and a hard-earned photograph the only remaining evidence of the arduous hours spent outdoors.

While all this was going on, we had a cow in the calving pen thinking about dropping her latest offspring, and as it was to be her 11th calf, she was allowed to do her own thing with an occasional glance to make sure all was going as expected.

A small heifer duly arrived, albeit with a hefty reputation to live up to as her mother has consistently bred superb calves each year, with last year’s roan heifer making her show-ring debut in Fingal this weekend.

All going well, I hope to flush the cow this year as like us all, she’s starting to slow down and show her age.

Our calf with the broken leg has fared well so far

While it’s something we’ve not ventured into previously, I’d been toying with doing it a few years ago and with cattle prices remaining high, there’s no time like the present to invest a bit of money into the future herd.

Our calf with the broken leg has fared well so far. We weren’t sure what to expect when the cast was being changed after 20 days but the bone has fused and her prognosis looks good, though she won’t be winning any ‘lovely legs’ competition in her lifetime.

As herself and the dam were indoors during our recent Bord Bia audit along with the freshly calved cow, the topic of animal welfare in the hot weather came up.

While one would have expected the slatted shed to be extremely warm and uncomfortable during the hottest days, we found it was noticeably cooler inside, especially as a strong breeze blows through off the nearby lake.

In contrast the animals outdoors were plagued with flies, though the older cows always know where to find the cooler air on our low ground and spent a majority of the hot weather basking in the sun beside the river.

Their calves, however, had other ideas of entertainment in the water, which highlighted the need for a whole new fence to be erected along the riverbank. With the existing one completed back in the early days of GLAS, it’s high time for a replacement to go up.