Livestock Farmer Focus: Robert Neill has had to resort to caesareans

The weather has finally improved, but it will take a lot of good conditions to help the crops.

Winter cereals are suffering from frost heave and snow rot; and early-sown spring barley is struggling to emerge. There is still a lack of grass, and with the silage pit empty and 80 calving cows still in sheds they are being fed a diet of concentrates and straw.

April was hectic, with spring drilling to complete and cows starting to calve. We have averaged 40 cows calving a week since the beginning of April. Calving has been going well, and being able to turn the cows and calves out on to dry ground has made a big difference to calf health.

We have been farming at Upper Nisbet for 10 years and during a recent discussion with a neighbour I was telling him that during that time we have never had to call the vet to perform a caesarean. Unfortunately no sooner had these words been uttered than the vet had to be called to not one, but two such procedures on cows in a week.

Unfortunately, the disappointing news doesn’t stop there, because in our sheep flock we also had to call the vet to perform a caesarean on a pedigree Texel ewe. Fortunately the outcome with the cows was more successful than the sheep. My neighbour kindly pointed out that the only guarantee at the end of a caesarean is the vet’s bill.

Last Wednesday we had a visit from our local primary school. This was our first visit since we took delivery of our new access trailer. This specially designed vehicle is roofed with side curtains which provide all-weather protection. There are 24 seats all fitted with seatbelts. Funding for the trailer came from a Scottish Rural Development Programme grant and sponsorship from Massey Ferguson.