To beat the expected rush I ordered and received my first delivery of an artic of bulk compound fertiliser last week. In fact, I needn’t have panicked. Not only did I expect to be spreading the fertiliser on Monday first thing in the morning but we also let the first pen of cattle out on a dry paddock with a full cover of grass.

It then began to rain, the cattle came back in and the fertiliser has stayed unspread.

The oilseed rape and the winter barley both clearly need nutrition but it has to be balanced with doing as little damage to land as possible.

We have access to a tractor with wide tyres and, in previous years, the damage to ground has been very slight, but this year is different and I will give both crops another day or two.

Out in the fields, we are at last seeing some small emergence in the early February-sown winter wheat. I find it disconcerting that the winter wheat is at its most vigorous in a corner of the field sheltered from the north and facing south.

Waterlogged fields

Only odd seedlings are visible in the rest of the still waterlogged fields and there is a constant presence of crows despite shooting as often as is practical.

One job that we have done is completed our online application form for the 2020 Basic Payment Scheme. A friend with a good knowledge of the system helped massively and when we had it finished we got a tick for having both observed the three-crop rule and for more than meeting the 5% environmental focus area (EFA).

Since the abolition of beans as a qualifying crop to meet this environmental requirement, I have been nervous about having enough area to meet the requirements but, in fact, we have more than enough hedges across the farm so we easily met the 5% threshold with quite a bit to spare.

As we sent off the completed application I was conscious that we will again have to accept a reduction in payment as the convergence policy continues.

The bigger question is how much our payment will be reduced by next year. But there is a lot of discussion to be had at EU level before we have a clear answer to that.

On the cattle side, we are continuing to buy in Hereford and AA Friesian crosses for grazing and have clarified the bonus structure and specifications wanted by our meat factory if we are to maximise returns. We have now set the targets for the new system. I hope we can meet them.