Last week, we had the first of the overall look at the crops. This year, there is none of the waterlogging and saturated spots in fields that were such a visible problem last year.

We have, as I mentioned, a volunteer bean infestation in a field of seed wheat which I am confident enough can be killed off easily but it’s the oilseed rape that has me more puzzled. This followed a crop of winter barley last year and in view of the resistant wild oats that occurred in that particular field, I got permission to completely burn the straw and stubble. We were left with a very easily worked field and got an excellent crop of oilseed rape established in good time.

As is the norm with a full cover of oilseed rape plants, we have had practically no pigeon damage but what is noticeable is an unusual amount of charlock or praiseach – this is similar botanically to oilseed rape – the same yellow flower and appearance but the plant has a rougher, coarser texture. Because of its botanical similarity, it cannot be killed off by a selective herbicide so, did the charlock come about because of the post-harvest burn-off getting rid of all the potential weed competition or was there some contamination in the seed? As we go through the growing season, we should get clearer answers.

Meanwhile, on the cattle front, any thoughts of taking an early grazing have been postponed with heavy rain and cold nights. The rain has, however, exposed clearly the difference between the umbilical and slurry tank systems of spreading slurry. Despite the wide tyres on the tanker and four-wheel drive tractor, there were still pools of water caused by compaction, but very little sign of any damage after the umbilical.