For the majority of livestock farmers, spring is physically the hardest season, with long days, broken sleep and the physical exertion of lambing and calving.
For the past two years, since we started using more sexed semen, we had seen a slide in our six-week calving rate (the proportion of the herd calved down within the first 42 days).
It was another case of ‘small farming, big problems’ last week in the money pit that is my small pedigree Angus herd. I went out to the shed around 9pm with the intention of forking in some silage and being back inside before the kettle had finished boiling for the tea.
All the planning and prayers paid off as the new milking machine was ready a few days before calving began, as the extended dry cow period came to an end.