A cow will drink anything from 30 to 120 litres of water a day, so as you can imagine availability is key for successful farming, writes Farming columnist and Aherla dairy farmer Paula Hynes.

Once the rain does arrive, there should be a good surge in grass growth as soil temperatures are high, but while we long for some rainy days, hopefully there will be some fine weather ahead still for the summer

The farm always requires some routine maintenance, and the summer months are a chance to tackle some of these jobs, writes Aherla dairy farmer Paula Hynes.

Life often gives us personal memories at shows, seeing Georgie and Becky as sisters showing sisters Kali and Kasey to win champion and reserve champion colourbreed was special, writes Aherla dairy farmer Paula Hynes.

After what has been another week of glorious sunshine, we had 5mm of rain on Friday night, which was very welcome as the forecast for the week ahead is superb again.   Cantys were in ploughing 17 acres this week, seven acres of which is a reseed.

If we are willing to accept the need for IP protection, like most other farmers around the world, then we have a chance to drive forward and make real progress

A quick flight to Manchester followed by a train to Carlisle took us to Borderway UK Dairy Expo this week for what is one of my favourite shows on the circuit.

I often wonder if the consumer knows what it takes to produce food and the sheer hardship that farmers put themselves through

The reality is that if you help a farmer, you help a family, writes Aherla dairy farmer Paula Hynes.

We have fought to deal with policy changes, weak dairy markets and horrendous weather so the idea of a base price is a chance at survival for many dairy farmers