101 calves born, two deaths but a very good calving season so far. We still have to work out our sexed semen success and our heifer : bull ratio – at last count we were about 56 dairy heifers, 5 beef heifers and the rest in bulls so the ratio is pretty good. Here’s my nine commandments for successful calf rearing – well, it’s keeping me going and the calves thriving!
Patience is [...]
Are you a Farmer?
Are you a Female Farmer?
Are you a Farmer’s Wife? Or perhaps a Farm Wife?
Are you a Farmerette?
There’s also the use of FarmHers and RancHers now too!
So what am I? In many ways, I am all of the above.
I’m a farmer – I own land and I have a herdnumber with over 300 head of cattle. I’m female so I am a female farmer too. I’m married to a farmer so some describe me as a farmer’s wife. [...]
It’s that time of year again – when a text or a call that says ‘I need a hand’ always puts me slightly on edge.
Calves are actually much more sensible than humans in the way they are born, more sensible than other animals too. They usually come out singly so they don’t have any siblings there with multiple limbs to entangle them! They usually come out in [...]
Calving will be starting on many Irish farms over the next few days and weeks. Farming papers are full of instructions for directions for improving calf health and reducing mortality. If you’re married to a new entrant dairy farmer or you’re wondering what being married to a dairy farmer might be like during the calving time, here’s the low down on what you need!
Not for the calves or even the cows but the farmer here needs a a steady [...]
When I was interviewed by Ryan Tubridy last December (shameless name dropping there!) he was teasing that farmers tend to be negative, grumpy and pessimistic. “Not so,” was my reply “They are optimistic, they always see the silver lining but they can never be too positive as they just never know what is around the corner.”
After all, although we don’t get extreme weather here in Ireland, it can happen that sudden flash floods can still damage crops or make a [...]
