Rain: rain over the last week has made ground conditions very poor in most parts, although soil moisture deficits had improved in some areas.

However, most land remains at field capacity or over it. Despite this our photographers caught some ploughing this week in what looked like good enough conditions, so it’s amazing where you will get opportunities to work.

The weather looks showery for the coming days and there are a lot of floods and pools of water to soak away. Jobs to line up for when the fields are ready to travel include cover crop destruction, spraying any winter cereals which have not yet received a herbicide and hedge cutting. In the meantime, have machinery serviced and ready to go for the season ahead and get seed, fertiliser and spare machinery parts ordered.

Slurry: there is a lot of slurry moving at present. If you are using your own slurry or taking in slurry, you should value it and apply it at the right time.

Applying in current conditions will damage soil first of all when travelling in the wet, but your nutrients are also highly susceptible to loss on wet land that is draining and still getting rain.

Slurry is only valuable if you apply it at the right time and in the right conditions. It should not be wasted. We also have to think of where the lost nutrients are going into water and deteriorating water quality.

If you are taking slurry off of a livestock farmer, remember that farmer has to inform the Department of Agriculture that it has been exported and the council can then inspect to see that it has been spread or stored on your farm. Taking slurry on paper was never acceptable. It has now been clamped down on.

Stubble cultivation rules: the stubble cultivation rules are now gone. They are not included in the new Nitrates Action Programme, so there are no issues with when to spray or cultivate land that had not been cultivated for green cover.

The previous rule was that if it had been left uncultivated for the birds over winter it could not be sprayed or cultivated until 1 February. All cover crops can be cultivated or sprayed at this time as well. They needed to remain in place until 1 January.

Payments are delayed in the Farming for Water Programme and some farmers have been asked to clarify which crops they grew for ACRES and which they grew for the Farming for Water Programme.

Growth guide: Teagasc launched a Rye Growers’ Guide at the National Tillage Conference last week. It’s available online or ask your local adviser for it if you would like to have a look through and get some advice on the crop.

It is a relatively new crop to many, and while some say it is easy enough to manage there are some things to look out for, so it might be worth taking a look through this guide. It has a handy timeline in the back with a guide of when to apply fertiliser, insecticides, fungicides and other inputs.