Normally, we try to organise our annual herd test when cattle numbers are at the minimum and preferably before the stores are out full-time.

This year we have been caught out. We bought more cattle than usual during late January and February and while they were able to get out by day at that stage, they were forced back in by the continuous rain during March and early April.

The end result is that to keep our legal entitlement to continue to trade normally we have to have our herd test, so we had the test day on Monday and we will read on Thursday.

It involved a lot of time and work bringing cattle in from every field and unlike dairy cows which are used to going in and out twice a day every day for milking, once bullocks are out they forget about their winter quarters and have to be rounded up.

Reading

Anyway, we got through the day and have to repeat it all for reading on Thursday.

The last few years have been relatively bovine TB-free. There are a few badger sets on the place that have been identified by the Department of Agriculture and the programme of experimental vaccination continues.

So far, the annual herd test also continues but the sooner we can have a reliable vaccine that eliminates the need for an expensive and tedious full annual herd test, the better.

I have only a sketchy idea as to what difference a final spray at this time of the year makes to wheat, barley or oilseed rape yield

Meanwhile, we are watching the continuous drop in grain future prices with horror. The green barley price for September has dropped below €200/t.

The temptation is to cut all inputs but at this stage we have spent so much so far between ploughing, tilling, seed and fertiliser, as well as plant protection products that it hardly makes sense to sacrifice potential yield. I have only a sketchy idea as to what difference a final spray at this time of the year makes to wheat, barley or oilseed rape yield so I will continue to stick with the recommended programme.

As I mentioned last week, the drop in forward prices has made me more conscious of the new Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and eco payments.

While we have applied and had, after some delay, an acknowledgement of a successful online application, we still have no precise details of the actual amount of money we can expect.

Complex

We were told the aim was to have these details in late February, early March.

This is a more complex CAP regime than its predecessors and it’s not surprising that the application date has been pushed out a fortnight and warnings already given of a later than normal payment date.

Given the pressures on cashflow that seem inevitable this year, assurances from the Department that they are broadly on track would be welcome.