There are times when I’d almost swear some of our cows can read minds or are at least more perceptive than any cow has a right to be.

Our herd test was due this month, so grazing was planned in order to have the cows moved to fresh pasture beside the sheds on both testing and reading days. We also left the shed open to the cows so they could access water and shelter from the rain, which they readily availed of. The morning before our test, every single cow and calf was in the shed, happily lying down, chewing their cud, not a care in the world.

Lulled into a false sense of security and thinking our cattle were going to behave for a change, I arrived down the following morning, expecting to find them somewhere in the vicinity, if not already waiting indoors.

Of course, they were nowhere to be seen. Half of the cows had broken away down to lower fields and had to be coaxed back under the pretence of moving to fresh grass. Thankfully, this was the only mishap of the day and later on we got through testing with minimal fuss.

Regardless of how lump-free the cows’ necks look to a farmer, the following three days are always a stressful time. It’s only after you get a nod and acknowledgment of “all clear” from the vet that you can breathe a deep sigh of relief and start to think about selling.

Seeing the TB test as a time of opportunity, we also wormed each calf once test reading was complete, using a pour-on wormer. Despite having noticed some calves coughing prior to testing, we refrained from treating them in case of any wormers affecting the test outcome.

Recent inclement weather forced us to take in the larger group of cows and calves for a few days, but instead of dividing them into pens, we let them run through the whole shed.

Watching the cattle choosing their space to lie down after foddering would certainly make you think about the advantages of using mats in pens instead of leaving slats as bare concrete. Invariably, the cows would lie on the mats and others would squeeze in around them. This left the majority squashed like sardines in two pens, with a few unlucky ones having to make do with using the lying area behind the slats.

Having the stock in also gave us a good opportunity to check how our silage turned out.

While it looks and smells good to me, I’m not going to be the one eating it, so a sample will be sent off for testing as part of my Green Cert course.

While the results of that will probably not change our winter feeding, it will give us a good starting point for knowing how long our silage should last if the spring goes against us.

One eye has also been kept on the weanling trade as our calves reach maturity. We’ve worked up to feeding approximately 1.5kg of a 17% nut per day to all the calves but I suspect the early weanlings are accounting for a majority of this.

It always amazes me how at this time of year, the calf turns to follow the creep feeder instead of the cow.

For once, trying to keep calf weights down has been the main aim, with the 350kg animal our usual target. Though some of the older March calves are beginning to unravel our plans, overachieving themselves despite our best efforts.

Although in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a terrible problem to have.