There’s still Drought in the South East

23rd August 2018 by Lorna
2 comments
Cows being supplemented with soya hulls August 2018

We’re still in a drought situation. Okay, it’s nothing like New South Wales in Australia where the situation is incredibly dire and the earth is brown. However, this is Ireland, the Emerald Isle, where rain is usually never far away and we’re accustomed to rain either spilling, pouring, lashing or spitting at us. The fields have greened up but we’re in a ‘green drought’ whereby the grass just isn’t growing enough to meet demand.

There has been plenty of rain in [...]

Farming: From the Frying Pan to the Fire this year

21st July 2018 by Lorna
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Dark clouds but no rain. The silver lining is the number of beautiful evenings we are getting at the moment but at the back of our minds is the knowledge that once the weather breaks, it might not stop raining for months. A feast or a famine this year!

From the Frying Pan into the Fire

April 2018 was a tough month. Every week, we hoped that the rain would stop and each week, the weather forecasters dashed our hopes as fields remained waterlogged, grass grew slowly and livestock stayed indoors eating the last of the winter fodder. Many farmers, mostly those on drier land and accustomed to having their livestock out in February and March, ran out of fodder and had to purchase more.

The cows were indoors for months [...]

Low Fertility, All Bull

29th July 2017 by Lorna
One comment
Red, the second Hereford bull

About 14 years ago, I was teaching Communication Studies at a third level college. I brought a t-shirt into one seminar, asking students  to discuss how they would regard a person wearing it as it bore the slogan “High Fertility, No Bull”. I didn’t show them the front which showed the logo of the Artificial Insemination company but as it happened, I don’t think they would have recognised the name anyway as none came from farms. Their interpretations were varied [...]

One Girl and Her Pup

11th July 2016 by Lorna
3 comments
One girl and her pup bringing in the cows

We bought a new pup a couple of months ago. Sam, our hardworking collie, will soon be ten years old and apart from thinking that he probably needs a rest, we’re very conscious that we would be lost without a good dog. Put it this way, I’d need to improve on my fitness! Indeed, when we see him next to an exuberant pup, it really brings home that he’s worked hard his whole life and is starting to slow up [...]

A Field of Mushrooms

8th August 2014 by Lorna
4 comments

We’ve had a fabulous summer here in Ireland – warm temperatures mostly between 22 and 26 degrees Celsuis and not much rain. In fact, rain kept missing us here and we got to the stage that we were looking out for it. 36 hours of rain last weekend on warm soil meant that we have a couple of fields with scores and scores of mushrooms.

Field Mushrooms

I had to [...]