Farmer Focus : Neville and Margaret Stacey

NOTHING GIVES the Welsh a lift more than winning the Grand Slam. Our neighbour, Andrew, and I were doing some stone-walling round the house that day and so were kept posted on the score throughout the match.

We are also indebted to Andrew for turning out to help load cattle for Dovecote Park at 4.45am recently. Thanks to his quick thinking we narrowly avoided having a steer over the slurry pit wall. Steers averaged 313kg deadweight and heifers 253kg.

We hope this will be the last season selling finished cattle out of sheds. We must cut our costs, maybe finish them off grass in autumn or sell them as stores. Keeping them here for a second winter will be questionable.

We have had the results of the blood tests for Johne’s disease. The results came back positive on the bull, a bit of a blow, as he is the most valuable animal we have. But before arranging for his removal, I phoned his breeder to see if he had experienced any problems with the disease.

His tests are clear, but his advice to us was to ask for a DNA-based test called PCR before doing anything drastic. Thankfully, the results of that have come back negative. So, if the results on the dung samples are clear, the bull should live to sire many more calves.

Lambing is fast and furious. We had two special helpers in the lambing shed this weekend, our granddaughters. Their Mummy, wife of our eldest son, Simon, has breast cancer, and, after surgery, has started on her first course of chemotherapy. It came as a huge shock to everyone, particularly in one so young. But being positive is the order of the day. The girls have gone home to Gloucestershire, jingling money in their pockets.

We write five weeks before SFP/IACS forms have to be returned and still no sign of any paperwork. They are not still celebrating the Grand Slam in Cardiff, are they?