THE last week began with very low air pressure, which has risen dramatically. Just over an inch of rain fell over the first few days, but was soon replaced with much colder and sunnier conditions, much more like winter.

During the last fortnight we have had two routine vet visits, both to do post-natal health checks, scanning cows recently inseminated to find out if they are now pregnant, also to examine and treat one or two lame cows.

Ian's daughter, Charlotte, who qualifies as a vet this year, was able to help Sam, our vet, with all the procedures. This will further enhance the practical skills she will need before completing her course at Bristol University. The scans revealed that 14 of the 19 cows presented were in-calf, which is a fairly good success rate.

During the second visit Sam put a 'shoe' on a lame cow . The outside cleet of one of her back hooves had an infected puncture wound which had been treated, but to help her recover and feel more comfortable, a small block of light wood was stuck to the inside claw using a quick drying resin. Hopefully it will remain in place!

Natalie, Ian's other daughter, did the milk recording one afternoon before returning to Reading University where she is studying agriculture. Milk recording is when individual milk samples are taken from every milking cow in the herd. These samples are then taken to a laboratory for testing.

The results will give us readings for the levels of fat and protein in each cow's milk. It also provides a reading called the somatic cell count, which is an indication of udder health and has to be kept below a certain level or we will be penalised by our milk buyer. Fortunately there were only a few cows with a real problem.

We are also contracted to provide milk at a specific butterfat percentage. The butterfat percentage of our last bulk milk sample (a sample of milk collected from our refrigerated storage vat) had dropped a little, so David, our nutritionist, has advised that we reduce the straw content of the diet and include a raised amount of 50:50 maize and grass silage.

As the silage is a little on the dry side we may need to add some water to ensure a good mix of all the ingredients before the ration is fed to the cows. If the average butterfat percentage of all the farmers in our milk group falls below 3.94 per cent, anyone supplying below their contracted level would incur a penalty, in the form of a monetary deduction per litre. Therefore it is most important that we deal with any issues immediately.

During the week we had several visits from the firm contracted to maintain our milking equipment. The reason for these visits was a malfunctioning milk pump, but the fault was intermittent, so not obvious until it stopped functioning altogether.

Unfortunately this occurred at the start of a morning milking and all the cows had been gathered in the collecting yard to await their turn to be milked. Once the engineer had put in a new electrical relay, milking could begin again.

Ian, with the help of student David, still on holiday from Harper Adams Agriculture College, mucked out the straw-bedded barn housing the 18-month-old heifers and the bull. The heifers were penned in a collecting yard, whilst the barn was cleaned out and bedded up with fresh straw.

Late Friday afternoon I went for a short walk near the dairy. It was cold, ice was forming on puddles, the sky clear and the moon looked very large and bright, even though it was about half its full size. The only visible wildlife was a pair of mallards that flew onto a pond, also some rooks flying to their tree-top roost for the night.