Alistair Mackintosh is bullish about his latest buy

Sadly when the rest of the country is crying out for rain and crop yields could be affected, we have had more rain than we need. The plus side is the barley crops are looking well, and we have plenty of grass, even with silage fields shut off.

At the time of writing, we still have about 30 cows to calve. Calving has gone well so far, however we have recently lost a calf with joint ill. This is a new one for us, and we are keen to avoid any repeat.

I splashed out at Carlisle Charolais bull sales. I’m no expert when it comes to buying a bull – the ones I pick are usually out of my price range. However, this time I got lucky – I hope.

I usually reckon on spending about the value of between six to eight store calves. Recently, the store price has risen, so it gave me a little more to play with.

Lambs are doing well, however there is a higher risk of fly strike this year, due to wet weather. Lee is keen to try a pour-on to try to reduce the risk – at least until we can shear the ewes and put everything through the dipper. With the lambs making a good price, I think we can more than justify the extra cost.

I see the report on how to reduce the burden of regulation and red tape by Richard Macdonald’s taskforce, has been published. This must be long overdue. The previous government made an attempt to do the same, but it came to nothing – let’s hope this time, some real progress can be made. I believe politicians will have to be bold when implementing the recommendations, and be careful to cherry pick what is easiest.