At Glensaugh we think that winter might have ended at last. Growth of grass is about two weeks behind normal but should soon catch up now that temperatures have risen. The deer calving is the last of our spring events and is now almost over. Thirteen hinds calved in one day (about 25% of the in-calf group), suggesting that our management of the herd must be “about right”. Such a tight calving pattern is unheard of in bovines.

Cows enjoying the shade of recently pruned trees on the drive. This field (Mets) will soon be ploughed and reseeded.

Spring maintenance includes our annual weed control programme which will run from now until early July as different target species reach their optimum growth stage for control. Combined in this programme is a visit to our recently planted woodlands where control of vegetation for one or at most two seasons is usually enough to guarantee good establishment. The planting of ash into perforated tree shelters has been very successful and as a proven combination will be used in future seasons to provide an annual increment to our tree cover. This planting of higher value species will be in addition to the establishment activity which is programmed as part of our Rural Development work.