From the gala ball to the Winter Fair

Pete and Paula Hynes attending the Better Farming Awards

I foolishly thought that with us in December, we wouldn’t be quite as busy on the farm, but it just feels like it's never-ending at times. I think it's down to the fact that the cows had to come in earlier - I nearly feel we should be in January already. 

The slurry tanks are filling and there is a big dent in the silage pit. It has been a tough year weather-wise and all we can do is hope next year will be better and that the spring will be somewhat normal, so we can get the ladies back out to grass.

In the meantime, we will just have to deal with moving the slurry to the top farm and keep the ladies fed and happy. The routine is fairly boring this time of year, it's like Groundhog Day, keeping cubicles clean and cows fed, and yards and passages clean. The few autumn calves are a nice distraction, always love how curious baby calves are, and of course, they love all the attention. 

We have some heifers heading to The Royal Ulster Winter Fair in Belfast as well this year, so there is plenty of walking, washing and prep for that going on behind the scenes.

The weather isn't the best for washing them, it's so cold but plenty of buckets of hot water and a good walk after and they are happy as Larry. They are all in good form and Pete, Becky and Georgie are really looking forward to the trip up north, Georgie loves heifers and Christmas so what better way to enjoy the festive season than enjoying a Christmas show, everyone decorates their cow stalls at the show so there is a box of decorations added to the show kit. It will be their first time going so it's very exciting.

The only thing that isn't fun is all the paperwork needed for the heifers to cross the border, there is a nice bit involved but we are very lucky to have plenty of people to guide us through the mountain of paperwork and DAFM has been very helpful.

Just another impact of Brexit, even though it is only a drive up the motorway, in theory, our heifers will be leaving the EU, so need to be exported but then need to be exported back into the EU to return home, the show have also been very helpful in guiding us with paperwork.

With all the regulations involved, dairy stock from southern Ireland have to be stalled in a separate area of the show with separate wash bays and milking area to their Northern counterparts. I will be staying at home to mind all the ladies here and Chloe will give a hand after work as well.

It was a bit of an emotional week for me as well, as I had to say goodbye to one of my old mares. Hattie, as she was known, has been a huge part of my life. My father purchased her as a yearling for me in 1997, so she has been around a long time, we had some great days out and the memories will last forever. 

She was a skewbald mare born on May 8, 1996, and had the most beautiful markings. She enjoyed her retirement here on the farm with us although it did take her a while to get used to the cows. She was the ripe old age of 27, so I'm very thankful I spent so many years with her. 

She was a firm favorite with me and my father as well and was always a prize winner in the ring whether it was jumping or showing. Pete rode her in the show ring as a four-year-old, where she won three days out under saddle, she then competed in cross country as a five-year-old.

She had tremendous scope jumping out of a big galloping stride; Pete always said she would nearly frighten you when she would take two strides out jumping an open fly fence, but the pair had trust in each other, and it was nearly harder to wind Pete down from the adrenaline rush than it was Hattie after they finished a cross country run. She will be sorely missed around the farm, but the memories will last forever.

Even though we have been kept busy around the farm, we did manage to get off the farm a few times recently which was nice. We went out for dinner for my birthday, and we recently attended the Better Farming Awards at The Heritage Hotel in Killenard, Co Laois, which was run by Agri Insider. It was a black-tie event, so a great excuse to get all dressed up and out of the farm clothes for a night. 

It is always wonderful to attend a gala ball. We need more events like this where agriculture is celebrated. Currently agriculture is receiving negativity from a small minority. As farmers, it is hard to turn a deaf ear to this negativity, but the reality is the public and consumers are behind farmers, believing we do a good job and produce quality food.

Perhaps we should spend more time celebrating our industry, highlighting the great work we do rather than defending ourselves to the few that will never change their opinion of us. Awards nights like the Better Farming Awards are a great opportunity to showcase the great industry we work in, highlighting the very best of our agri industry. 

It struck we this week as our Taoiseach visited a 6000-cow dairy farm in Abu Dhabi whilst at the COP28 Climate Summit; the focus in Ireland was that this was a giant dairy farm and purely focused on the fact it was home to 6,000 cows. 

Firstly, 6000 cows is not a giant dairy farm in the greater scale of global farming - many dairies in the US are home to 20,000 cows, with a few farms having 100,000 cows, China's largest dairy farm consists of 540,000 cows. 

Most importantly, everyone in Ireland seemed to lose sight of the fact, that the farm our Taoiseach visited is in fact managed and operated by two Irish men, surely this is what we should be highlighting and celebrating, that Irish people are respected right across the world for being great farmers and great food producers, if Irish agriculture and Ireland itself were to make a new years resolution, let's make it that we regain a sense of pride in our industry and not lose sight of being a small country that punches far above its weight in terms of producing sustainable globally renowned, high welfare standard food!