The three or four blocks of land to plough are now sprayed to try and remove some of the docks and wicks before the new seeds are put in.
The artificial fertilisers have landed but at a price of between £260-£300 a tonne we have used it in collusion with the slurry (liquid farmyard manure) which we have been spreading over most of the land since January.
We use the hired tractor with the flotation tyres which has allowed the grass to start taking up the nutrients when the plant needed it rather than waiting for the expensive artificial gear which we are always wary of applying before we can see the grass starting to grow.
We opened the gate for the dairy cows to go out to grass on 1 April.
Even though the sun is shining the grass is not growing to them yet as the land is still too cold and the night frosts are sending it back into the ground faster than it grows during the day.
Even though we've only turned out half of the cows we turned out last year, they've still managed to chomp their way over 30 acres of ground.
Let's hope it warms up soon as they will be like sheep waiting for a blade of grass to grow and three of them running to grab it.
We received a note from the dairy this week saying how well they were doing.
I know they are doing better than some of their counterparts and invest money wisely in branded products and plants that are going to give us some return in the future.
But it does hit us hard when the next paragraph says they are reducing our price again and backdating it to the 1st by 1.25p per litre – that's a 2.25p reduction since 1 April for us and 3p odd per litre since January.
How are we supposed to survive?
Then I hear they've put up the price on the doorstep for a pint bottle to 56p – up 2p a pint, our 11½p a pint to 56p ... somebody is taking the Mick. I'm sorry to grumble.
How they can import milk that costs more than ours, ship it over here and manufacture it rather than pay us a reasonable price, we must be subsidising that job as well (okay, I've had my moan) and it it's not a case of whinging farmers again but fair's fair.
The powers that be are bailing out the banks, the car companies and it seems anybody that wants a couple of bob.
I bet if I went cap in hand to see Gordon because I'd overspent the answer would be tough s**t.