We have worked a lot of cattle over the last month, and it has all gone fairly well – we haven’t had to go ‘emergency fencing’ and no-one has got too upset on either the inside or the outside of the cattle race! The cows know the set-up and work through the yards well. When both the cattle and the handlers are calm it makes the whole job tick along so much smoother.

Our 221 cows and heifers were all scanned in a morning and results were fairly pleasing at 90% all in. No prizes but no cock-ups either. It keeps a 94% target for calves weaned an unlikely possibility yet again! About half of the empty cows have a reason – either had issues calving or were late, and then there was the two 15 year-olds that were chancing it a bit anyway. Luing yearling heifers take top spot with 20 out of 20 in-calf, and the tail enders were Simmental cows where we are using a bit of AI and also trying to condense the calving period.

Read more: Neil McGowan's trials rotational grazing and his Farm Genes sale

Moving from a protracted spring-summer calving to a tighter spring-only herd has been a five-year project that we can now tick-off. Management is a lot simpler which I think allows us to get the attention to detail better in the fewer lots we have.

One of the main original reasons for summer calving was to have bulls at the right age for the February bull sales, but with bulls sold from home now, this isn’t an issue. We found that the October sale was more often than not a buyers-market.

I spent a few days last week in at Stirling following show classes and sales, where the standard of bulls was very good in the Simmental lines. Come June, we will be needing a little more bull-power to cover either Luing or pure cows, so I was looking with intent. The shopping list for traits included temperament; good feet (and udder if possible); reasonable calving figures with good early growth but not too big a frame; a breedy head; free mover; a pedigree without too many extremes or surprises; structure for locomotion, calving ease and carrying flesh in the right places; and following the demand we are seeing for bulls – dark red and polled.

I found a bull that ticked almost all the boxes (he’s horned), but very happy to be home with Corskie Lupin. With a price-tag of slightly less than an average Blackie tup lamb at Lanark, he looks good value. It seems a long time to keep a bull until he is needed, but I’m sure the equivalent bull would be a lot dearer in the spring and for the sake of the bull’s own health, he’s better on our ‘thinking about bulling time’ diet, than a ‘still looking for a buyer’ diet.

Read more: Neil McGowan aims to improve in-lamb survival at Incheoch

I watched a bit of the phenomenal Blelack Sale. Dad’s advice when I got home was to 'make sure and remember it – because I doubt you’ll ever be at a sale like that again.' The Massie/Rettie/UA team really pulled it off on the day, but it was the skill of Neil and Graeme as breeders that kept the herd at the top of the breed for more 50 years, always hitting the market, even as fashions changed that created the value in the cattle. Hats off – well done!

Since then we have weaned a lot of calves and brought cows in. We’re a bit later than usual, with more autumn grass and dry underfoot (until now). Calf weights haven’t been analysed, but will be up, and cow condition is definitely up. Silage quality is up, although quantity is down.

It is with mixed emotions that I hooked the tractor onto the feeder wagon, which will hopefully work every day for the next six months. It’s fine that there is a comfortable cab and there can be great pride in getting a nice mix made and seeing the steam come off cattle as they all tuck into their breakfasts. But I find it a bit monotonous – and I don’t like how the tractor keeps telling me off with its beeps and flashing lights when I feel like I’m trying my best!

Lamb sales are ahead of where we would normally be – it’s been a good growing season and lambs have done well and we have also kept drawing and selling in case the price drops!

Carcase weights are still a respectable 19.7kg, a wee bit short of where we usually are, but returning £97.12 with all cost off is a big jump from the £75 at the same stage that the previous four years have averaged. This also means that we are 40% lambs sold (compared with 25% this time last year), and expect that to rise to 70% off grass with another two draws booked to go shortly. Lighter lambs that handled like they would like a change in diet were put onto a rape/stubble turnip mix a couple of weeks ago.

Lleyn ewes are in two mobs, with the main lot tidying up some grass further from home, getting a new field every week after a few hungry days – just trying to maintain condition. Leaner and older ewes have had over a month on better grazing so should be catching up in preparation for mating in December.

Tups are due to go in with pure Texels next week. We run a couple of computer reports that help select rams to ewes, but the end decision is still based around type and which tup might suit best. Everyone has a weakness that could do with improving!

Tattie holidays are early in the Angus schools – which suited the season, but I don’t suppose it had much impact on the actual harvest! Our Angus had a day picking into baskets in trial plots for his friend’s Dad before we went to Tiree on holiday. What a lovely island – easy beach walks, quiet roads suited to wobbly cyclists and we even had a go at surfing! We were spotted as ‘not normal tourists’ and treated to a trip around a great show of stock. There is some fantastic cow-country in amongst sand-dunes and we saw a lot of well-bred, well looked after cattle. I don’t think the locals were as impressed with our surfing efforts!

November is conference season – I really enjoy the Sheepbreeders Round Table and make an effort to go, where for the cost of a beer you can have access to some of the top sheep scientists and breeders around. Unfortunately it’s by zoom this year – but maybe you will be able to log in and take a look at what goes on!

Debbie is going to the Scottish Agri-tourism conference in Perth and looking forward to meeting the people from a WhatsApp group that has been a bit of a lifeline to our diversification projects over the Covid period. It has kept everybody up-to-date on Covid rule changes; problems and solutions have been shared; it has helped us all adapt quickly; and given us a wee communication line to some very positive people – which has had a big impact on our ability to make the most of things over what could have been a difficult time. I haven’t been told exactly what the conference is about, but the vibes I’m getting from Debbie is that there has been a hard road to travel in the agri-tourism sector but we have made it to the other side and are all a lot stronger for getting there. I suspect it’s going to be a good party!

I think we are all ready for one of them.