Cattle producers love spending time watching their cattle and sitting in the ute can be time worth spent.

Anyone who has the bulls out with the cows at the moment should book up some sitting time in the paddock and don’t worry if passersby think the ute is bogged, out of petrol or the driver is sleeping.

Observe, because this is one of the best times of the year weatherwise and because joining mobs don’t always behave as they should.

A bull going out with the cows for the first time might let his hormones get the better of him.

He might try more than he’s fit to do, whether it be mating or fighting, and end up on the bench from an early breakdown.

Heifers or cows may decide that they’re not cycling after all, or return to cycle after an apparent good joining.

If any thing happens to cows or the bull, then those empty cows become a huge cost.

Most of the joining activity happens in the first three weeks but breakdowns can happen right through joining.

Agronomists would have you spend time out of ute checking the pasture and thinking about a plan to improve it, a fencing guru would have you contemplating how to fix up the fences and use some decent knots.

It doesn’t matter.

Time spent in the paddock thinking and planning is time well spent.

This week drive the ute into the paddock, stop the engine and just sit there.

This column appears in Agriculture Today.