51AVÊÓƵ

Our farm road is the absolute bane of my life and has been ever since I started to drive.

Its about a mile long and, if I had a pound for every delivery driver, rep or family member whos said that road of yours is terrible, Id have been able to resurface it about 10 times over.

I know it is terrible I have to go up and down it all the time.

After quite a bit of rain, snow and frost throughout December and January, it was probably the worst its been for a while.

The potholes were getting almost impassable in some places, so last Sunday we took the opportunity of a couple of the kids being home from university to press them into service with shovels.

We usually buy a couple of loads of gravel every year or so to fill the holes and, over time, it somehow seems to completely disappear where does it go?

After several hours of shovelling, accompanied throughout by quite a bit of whinging and moaning, we made a real difference and the various vehicles will definitely appreciate it, at least until the next downpour washes it all away again.

One of the constant messages Ive hammered home with the children over the years is that if they ever win the lottery or make their fortune, the only thing I ask of them is for a tarred road.

I dont care about fancy cars or expensive jewellery (chance would be a fine thing).

With that job out of the way, were starting to think about lambing and calving and getting things organised in plenty of time. I ordered quite a few things a while ago after hearing rumours that there might be some shortages of vaccines, iodine and other medicines, so the fridge and cupboards are well stocked.

The silage and bought straw has lasted pretty well over the winter, and the rapeseed meal we feed to the ewes in the run up to lambing arrived this week.

We have our TB test next week, so thatll be a good opportunity to regroup the cows according to their condition and alter the rations to suit as we approach calving.

My husband insists on reminding me that it could all go wrong at any minute and after all, the Beast from the East came in March, but Im going to persist with the optimistic view that its nearly spring and things are going fine until Im proved otherwise.

Weve recently advertised for new members to join the Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) board and it was really encouraging to have such a large number of very impressive applicants to choose from.

What is particularly pleasing is the gender balance and age profile of those who are interested plenty of women and younger people.

Well be interviewing and making the final appointment recommendations to the Cabinet Secretary over the next few weeks, and itll be great to get some new faces and experience round the table to make sure QMS is taking the right decisions for the future of the red meat sector.