Ivy is to have a little show off in field trials

"Ivy has been working up on the grouse moors for the past few weeks but she is in field trials on Friday on winter barley, and she needs to accustom herself to different terrain."

Ivy the pointer is a bit of a star. In fact to friends and other lesser mortals she is Princess Ivy.

But she is also a grafter and has been hard at work in Scotland working with the gamekeepers on the grouse count.

The snow was feet deep and my friend Joan, her owner, said that the count was very dispiriting at first as many of the grouse had not survived the harsh conditions.

But, amongst the corpses, they eventually found a number of live birds. Not paired up yet, as with most birds nesting is much later this year, but a positive outcome.

Now the time has come for Ivy to have a little show off in field trials and after her wild races across the heather to find and point birds, she has to be a bit more disciplined on the winter barley. So flat in comparison to the moors.

The weather is still too cold for us to turn the herd out.

But the dilemma this week is whether to risk it as three of the calves have developed coccidiosis and one pneumonia.

The conditions in the big foldyard with so many cattle under cover and the sunshine warming things up are getting rather muggy.

John called the vet out and he has treated the calves but he agreed the sooner we can turn the herd out the better for them.

It is still wet underfoot however and the grass has barely started to grow, so things are balanced on a knife edge.

Hopefully with a good forecast this week, they could be out at the weekend. As it is the cows are all mooning about at the gate looking across into the fields from the silage yard.

Dream on girls. It will be a few days yet.

There are only two sheep left to lamb. John had a big sort out of the ewes left and took those that are not in lamb into market.

They were all old ewes and not worth keeping for another year merely on the off chance they might get in lamb next year.

All the rest of the ewes and lambs are down the fields apart from three pets.

The gimmer who was in the stocks last week is very taken with her adopted offspring and Mum and new daughter are doing well.

The pets are pests. They have taken to hanging about in the corner of the paddock next to the backdoor of the farmhouse and bawl out for a feed the moment they see anyone step into the yard.

But they are thriving and starting to eat grass and some creep feed.

So they can stay on the bottle until the ewe milk replacement powder runs out.