The last week is the first time in two years that I have seen all the ditches full and drains flowing. Replenishment of soil moisture deficits is to be welcomed, as long as the rain knows when to stop. The dry summer as well as allowing a long spell of productive autumn grazing also allowed silage and hay to be saved in excellent conditions.

We are now feeding silage made in early June after a spring grazing and a good wilt. The great advantage from my point of view of very dry, precision-chopped material is that it comes out of the pit so easily that it can be handled by the ordinary heavy-duty bucket on the tractor/loader rather than putting on a silage fork as we have to do for wetter material.

I am not sure why it is so difficult to source a bucket with strong teeth as some of the specialised industrial-type diggers have.

Meanwhile, we have got some more cattle safely indoors and off the sodden land as we continue to get rid of fit bulls.

However, it’s not only the land that is sodden. We now have two years of wheaten straw in two different stacks. This year’s stack is still fine but the bales from the 2014 harvest that were in such good condition are visibly disintegrating.

I have been paid roughly 80% of their value for both years and while I would rather have been paid the full 100%, the 80% is acting as some consolation.

But one has to ask what on earth is going on in the mushroom composting industry. It’s not that long ago that straw was being imported from England, a tactic I had assumed to keep a lid on Irish prices. But we seem to have no idea how much straw was imported and more to the point, I have no clear view on when the straw will be moved and I receive the remaining 20%.

One lesson learned is that for next year’s harvest, the option of chopping the wheaten straw will be very much the first option to be considered unless I can be convinced otherwise.