Paula Hynes: A calf shed upgrade and a threat of bushfires
One of the calf sheds on the Hynes farm recently upgraded
We were minus a team member for Christmas this year as Becky headed off to Australia the week before with a busy schedule ahead and a big show team to clip before Santa arrived.
She is not a stranger to travelling and got straight into work on her arrival in the Southern Hemisphere. She was glad to have the clipping out of the way quickly as temperatures started to peak a few days later, with Victoria experiencing one of its hottest summers on record.
The extreme heat is a threat, but it is also very windy, meaning wildfires can travel great distances in a short space of time, the nearest fire being 11km away and somewhat under control but is still a huge worry for all on the large dairy farm.
With 400 cows to milk every morning, it is an early start, and International Dairy Week is looming fast, so there will be little time for rest with the mammoth task of getting such a big show team over to the show.
The farm got a little busier than expected on the return from the RUAS Winter Fair, I had been longing to see one of our main calf sheds get an upgrade. It wasn’t on my Santa list, but Pete delivered after a quick call to Denis Herlihy to arrange new penning and another call to Keohane Readymix to ensure we could get concrete so close to the Christmas holidays.
James and Darragh were drafted in to help Pete, and after three late nights of work, my calf shed was transformed into a modern facility which will greatly ease the workload during calving.
As farmers, we always think we work the longest of hours, but we had lots of competition prior to the festive holidays as truck drivers worked hard to ensure jobs were completed; great credit to the Keohane drivers as at the end of a long day for them, they were still in great spirits and helpful as ever.
Show season complete, calf shed complete, the biggest challenge of the year lay ahead in the form of the Christmas grocery shopping.
After such a tiring adventure, I was truly glad we went for the extra large turkey and ham because my three-hour adventure to grab a few groceries was surpassed by the fact that we could cook seven days' dinners in one go and eat turkey and ham right through to New Year's eve.
It makes me wonder why Teagasc haven’t advised us dairy farmers to embrace turkey and ham during calving season, surely the option of only having to cook four dinners in the whole month of February would be considered smart farming.
Christmas Day for us was a case of trying to balance Santa's arrival with morning milking. With so many fresh milkers, they don’t like to be delayed too much, and the morning jobs were followed by a brief present opening session before Pete had to go feeding, which takes two hours with the diet feeder due to chopping different mixes for dry cows and fresh cows, but while many were tucking into their Christmas lunch, Pete was happy that with 170 orders for the vegan special, all his bovine diners were also eating heartily.
With an evening milking on the agenda, our festive lunch was a little lighter and somewhat lacking in celebratory drinks, but as the lights in the milking parlour were switched off that evening, there was still plenty of time for all of us to be merry.
As the New Year looms, the calving pens are starting to fil up as all our heifers are calving shortly. It is a change for us calving all our heifers earlier, but we felt it would give them more time to settle before the main herd starts calving; we will have a few cows calving in early January as one of our Jerseys named Kasey is due as is Alanna, the dam of the March calf Georgie showed in Belfast.
With another calving season looming, I honestly don’t know where the last twelve months has gone, perhaps it is a good sign of an adventure packed year that 2024 passed so quickly and I am proud of what we achieved over the year in what was another successful show season.
Everyone who plays a part in keeping the farming running over the year is a part of that success, from contractors to vets, relief milkers to feed delivery drivers, and we are grateful to all those who are a part of the team in keeping our farm running over the year.
I’m not really one for New Year's resolutions, work-life gets busy quickly, but we always do plan a little getaway once April comes, something to look forward to once the calving season is complete, I am looking forward to watching the International Dairy Week livestream in early January and seeing Becky show in Australia.
In the meantime, I want to wish each and every one of you a happy and prosperous new year and best wishes for 2025.
