Making small and simple upgrades to make life on the beef farm easier

Helen and Ruairi Cummins on their farm at Kilmoganny, Co Kilkenny. Signpost farming piece. Picture: Patrick Browne

Winter has really settled in on the farm this month. All of the calves were weaned in October using the nose paddles, and they were brilliant. Apart from one calf losing one and doing some roaring at weaning, there was no noise from the others, so I was very happy with them. They were very easy to insert and to remove and have proved to be a game changer on the farm, so I’ll definitely use them again next year.

The bull weanlings have now been housed for three weeks, and their backs and tails were clipped. I bought new rechargeable cordless clippers this year, and it’s much safer than the corded ones I had previously. They were weighed on October 28 and averaged 409kg.