A 'magic' start for Becky in the UK

Becky Hynes competing at Mid Devon show

The weather has been a huge challenge recently, but thankfully, we managed to get the second cut done with the two dry days we got together. 

We are very lucky with the contractors we have; we usually mow ourselves but with time of the essence, they arrived with three mowers and knocked it all quickly and we gave everything a tedding apart from the red clover paddocks as we were picking up the next afternoon. 

It was a hectic few days as we also attended Carbery Show mid-week with a few heifers and one milker. Chloe showed Rathard Legend Maker Gloria on her first outing; she was third in the handlers and fifth in a strong heifer class.

Chloe was really pleased with how well Gloria behaved, and she learned a few things along the way. 

Georgie had another young heifer and was third in both her handling classes. I took up the halter of Rathard Peanut, in Becky's absence and took the Jersey Championship, so all in all a good day and the sun shone. 

But it was straight home after to get the cows milked and the silage pit covered. We still have more second cut to do on rented ground, but it's looking like it's going to have to wait a week or so with the weather forecast.

I'm just happy we got the second cut done on the home farm, so it can get back going again to start building covers for the autumn.

A trip across the water

You might wonder where our Becky was as she's normally at the centre of our showing action. This week she has been over in the UK preparing for the Mid Devon Show with Panda Holsteins, where we house our red and white Holstein heifer Panda Global Magic Red. 

She was extremely busy for the week with five heifers and two milkers entered, including our own lady. She was buzzing with excitement, with it being her first show with Magic. 

It was an early start 3am start for the Panda Team, and unfortunately, they weren't as lucky with the weather as it rained all day long. But that was no worry to the girls, with Becky winning two handling classes and going on to win Champion Handler.

Magic also won the Maiden Heifer class, the Senior Heifer class and went on to win Junior Champion. What a start for them both; we were only sorry that we weren't there to celebrate with her and the Panda Team. 

They both also won Reserve Champion Interbreed pairs with Magic and her half-sister Panda Winning Glory Red. 

As champion dairy handler, Becky won a beautiful shield and was as proud as punch bringing it home to show us. I always say, hard work pays off and she is counting down the days till she returns for her next show in the UK, which is a lot sooner than I thought - she is only home for three days showing at the YMA National Championships and then straight back to the UK to compete at New Forrest show on Thursday morning!

A minute to myself

I finally got a chance to have a walk around the farm as well this week. 

To be honest, I needed an hour or two to myself, so I took the opportunity to have a nice relaxing walk and check in on my autumn-calving heifers and cast my eye over them and have a chat and a snuggle. Acclaim and the rest of the show heifers from last season who love nothing better than coming up to say hello, to be honest, I think they sometimes miss the attention.

It was great to have a look at the reseed as well and have a walk through it, thankfully it's flying and hopefully, once the weather starts playing ball the ladies will be in to take the first graze off it. 

I love how peaceful it is down the bottom of the farm. It used to be an old railway, so the roadway is amazing and both sides are bursting with beautiful hedgerows, bursting with all sorts of goodies for the wildlife.

It’s a lovely walk as well, it's about two km from start to finish, so it's great if you only have the time for a quick sprint, and you never know what kind of wildlife you will find along the way.

One of the paddocks down there we call the oasis, it has a beautiful old horse chestnut tree sitting proudly in the middle of one side of it and a beautiful old stone bridge in the far corner; it's so relaxing just sitting there listening to the ripple of water flowing underneath and wondering about the people of long ago who built it.

The best thing about the week was that I was surprised with an early finish from work and taken out for a fabulous dinner to celebrate us being together for 29 years. 

I still find it hard to comprehend that we have been together that long, it only feels like yesterday that we started going out. They say time flies when you're having fun. We have fitted a lot into that many years together, married for 23 years, three amazing daughters, three different house moves until we finally built our dream home, and big career moves for us both until we finally found the one that we both have a passion for. We are extremely lucky that we get to do it together with our daughters too.

But, the real treat was we spent the night away, which of course resulted in a lie-in. Total bliss!