Farmer Focus: Works continue despite further milk price drop

What beautiful weather we have been having in south-west Scotland lately.

The field we had been digging to level out the mounds is complete and sown, which will make a huge difference to the lie of the land. By the second week of May, we had our entire spring crop sown and finished.

We have been moving slats from our old building into the new shed. Despite a few hiccups here and there, the build is getting there slowly.

Michael and I are still in discussions about which mattress will achieve the highest cow comfort within our budget. We are hoping, if all goes smoothly, that cows will be in the shed by the end of May, so we need to make a decision soon.

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Like many others, we had another drop in milk price on 1 May. The saying “it gets worse before it gets better” comes to mind.

The riverbank flood repairs are about to be started as they have to be finished by the end of June in order to abide by the grant rules.

See also: Winter flood damage repairs under way

We put some heifers outside at the beginning of May. Sounds like an easy enough task, but what was meant to be a 10-minute job turned into 45 minutes.

They were apparently not so keen to get out and enjoy the weather, as they kept trying to go back into the shed.

We like to think that they were enjoying the cow comforts in the shed. Or they are just not used to the big yellow thing in the sky.

Sheila and I have had our first weekend off together in a while. I treated her to a trip up to the Ayr Show.

She knows that any trip away usually involves cows somewhere along the line. The sun was shining and it was a great day out catching up with old friends.

Brian Yates milks 250 pedigree Holsteins in partnership with his wife Sheila, son Michael and daughter Anna. Surplus heifers are sold for breeding.