Combines 4 Charity held its presentation night last weekend and a great evening was had by all. If you remember, a new world record was set on August 16 when 175 combines from the four corners of Ireland descended on a 140ac field at Duleek, Co Meath, and set about harvesting the field of wheat simultaneously. Such was the success of the day that the crop was harvested in just 13 minutes.

This was an event and a challenge which appealed to the farming community so much that not only was a new world record created, but a new national record was created with the single largest donation to charity when €300,000 was presented to the four charities last week.

The Combines 4 Charity event was phenomenal and produced a huge "feel good" factor. It was planned, organised and held within four months. An event which appealed to the very nature of farmers, it was taken on board with enthusiasm and each and every participating combine owner raised a four-figure sum. So all of you farmers and sponsors out there; take a bow.

You helped to make history and to make life a little easier for the recipients of the donations. FBD also deserve much credit as the main sponsors of the event. I know my brother, John, who was chairman of the hard-working committee, was one of several men who spent most of the night prior to the challenge patrolling all the combines involved. Indeed, I have heard that this same hard-working committee has another world record challenge in the pipeline. St Patrick's Day 2011 is the target date and I have complete confidence in the farmers of Ireland rallying again.

Anyway, back to farming and we continue to battle against the rainfall. It is impossible to carry out any fieldwork, but at least all the cattle are settled in the comfort of their winter housing. Despite this, however, it is still very miserable just moving around the farmyard when even a short walk has the potential to leave ussoaked to the skin in the torrential downpours.

The lads on the home farm had several beef heifers ready for sale last weekend but the sale did not proceed as cattle prices collapsed overnight. They were selling several fine Aberdeen Angus heifers, which would currently seem to be surplus to market require-ments. This illustrates, yet again, the sheer lack of planning and organisation in the beef industry.

Yes, they could have sold them at the reduced price but these heifers can stay on the farm for a few more weeks. The lads are not under pressure to sell and have the facilities to manage.

The price collapsed overnight, so I am convinced that the factories used an oversupply situation to their own financial advantage instead of working with farmers in a more planned approach. The ball is in their court. They call the shots and, as long as we tolerate the situation, they will continue to abuse us in this way.

Scanning of the cows went well, with most of those scanned proving to be in calf. A few of the older cows were barren -- as we suspected -- and these are now earmarked for culling, so they should depart the farm within the next few weeks. Records have now been updated in line with scan dates.

TB testing was also carried out last Monday so we must now wait for the results. We have been somewhat unfortunate over the past few years, insofar as we seem to have one or two reactors after the spring/summer grazing period and then the herd clears over the indoor winter period. The only conclusion which can be drawn from this scenario is that infection of the herd occurs during the grazing months, which, of course, can only come from infected wildlife on the farm. They are not exposed to such risks during the indoor housing period. Hopefully, we will be lucky with this test and the herd will remain clear.

Now that the autumn calvers have been indoors for several weeks it is time to treat them with a pour-on to protect against lice. There is only one product on the market that I know of which is safe to use on milking cows, and the instructions must be followed to the letter.

But lice treatment is yet another valuable management tool that is important for the comfort of the cow. Cows are also being dosed for fluke as they are dried off. This is a precautionary measure in the light of the prolonged wet conditions.

- Oliver McDonnell

Irish Independent