The savings in feed costs associated with the exceptional February have come to an end. Everything is back in again, the silage pit is being re-measured after we had complacently decided we had more than enough and I am doubtful if we will have enough straw to see us through to even an early winter barley harvest.

The unpalatable truth is that my greed to cash in on the high straw prices of last autumn has left us without enough straw for our own use.

As well as the beans safely sown and rolled, we also sprayed the pre-emergent herbicide which we never got to do last year

But even before the weekend’s snow, I was reminded with the first of the cold rain that as the bull weanlings were relaxing in the sun up to last week, at the first sign of the wind shifting from a mild southerly to a cold northwest, suddenly they bunched into a tight group for warmth and mutual support.

However, the fine dry February let us get through a lot of work.

As well as the beans safely sown and rolled, we also sprayed the pre-emergent herbicide which we never got to do last year and so, had a filthy crop which meant slower combining for a drought and late sowing-induced poor yield.

We also spread the first fertiliser out on the oilseed rape and winter barley, so there is only the winter wheat and my gluten-free oats left to receive their first nitrogen, neither of which I regard as particularly urgent during the first few days of March.

Read more

Research providing information and advice for tillage

Straw imports up sixfold to 29,000t