The normal settled spell that usually covers the end of August-early September period did not come this year. It’s been a case of snatching whatever breaks allow work to be done and then watching as the rain comes in from the west. We had lots last Saturday night and Sunday morning but before that we got the oilseed rape sown and rolled. My rough cut-off date for the crop is 1 September and we got it safely in before that date.

We also got the end of the hay baled. Never before have I baled hay on 1 September but we had some paddocks that with the good growing season had got too strong to graze and took the chance to make hay. The mature grass dried quickly and we made surprisingly good material. What its feed value will be is another question. I will be interested to get an analysis done.

The only thing left to do from the 2017 harvest is to get the oaten straw baled and the fields cleared of the 8x4x4 wheaten straw bales destined for the mushroom business. And of course harvest the beans which we applied Roundup to during the few dry days.

Meanwhile, on the cattle side, we have loosened up the stocking rate on the grass. We have lots of grass but we also want to get as much grass into and as much weight gain as possible on the new weanlings before they are housed for the winter. Nutritional value drops sharply at this time of the year and I regard cattle performance at this stage as more important than total clean-out of the paddocks.

We have now bought in about one-third of the weanlings – the prices are all over the place with some much more expensive than last year and some much the same.