Things are starting to resemble something like normality on the farm. The carrot harvest begins this week, while the parsnip harvest is hitting a rhythm and the last of the flower bulbs will be planted back this week.

We seeded back 115 acres of grass this year and it was starting to become a bit of a worry with the plentiful grass situation that had developed due to the weather. Thankfully all of the grass is now spoken for, with 60 acres being worked on a grass B&B basis with a good local dairy farmer and the remaining 55 acres being used to swap with a beef man for tillage acres.

The grass B&B deal was already done prior to seeding but the 55 acres used for swapping with our beef counterpart was a bit of gamble at the time of seeding. We worked on the rationale that it was going to be easier to find a solution with strong grass crop standing rather than an uncultivated field.

Long-term solution

The option was also there to drill cereals back, but with the land being away from our carrot or parsnip area, it didn’t make sense as we were looking for a long-term solution. We would only put cereals back in the rotation where we have parsnips or carrots as a means of holding land on long-term agreements.

About three years ago, we made the move to limit our cereal area where possible as it was an issue getting spring barley and winter wheat fungicides on at a time where generally we are planting carrots or parsnips. Also, we are geared up for heavy cultivations and haven’t got the scale efficiency required to make money growing cereals in Ireland.

Volatility

The volatility across all the sectors has never been more prominent than at the moment, with milk prices beginning to flirt with the danger line for many, cereal prices being poor and beef returns being suspect.

We have our toe in a few sectors either directly or indirectly. The argument for or against each sector has been rolling since year dot but from what I can see, it’s not really a sector issue, it’s really down to the farmers themselves. The better farmers, be they beef, dairy, tillage, or any other, will always make money.