Everything I have read has emphasised the importance of excellent silage for dairy-beef steers. Their conversion efficiency is so poor compared with my former continental bulls that mediocre silage is not easily made up for with barley.

The wet weather over the last 10 days has left me regretting that we hadn’t taken our late cut of silage during the few fine days we had

The bulls were much more forgiving in how they responded to meal feeding in conjunction with mediocre silage over the winter. The wet weather over the last 10 days has left me regretting that we hadn’t taken our late cut of silage during the few fine days we had the previous week but I was slightly nervous that low sugars and high nitrates would give a poorly preserved material, with reduced intake and abysmal performance.

No wonder Brazil is beating us in China

I must admit my mind harked back to the days of formic acid as an effective and safe preservative and the former availability of a range of growth-enhancing hormones, now banned in Europe but available to our international competitors selling to the world market. No wonder Brazil is beating us in China. But moving on; with the weather forecast to be warm and dry and the silage headed out, I am assuming that a good 24-hour cost-free wilt will produce a well-preserved product, especially as everything we have to cut this time is only reseeded a few years.

Meanwhile, the oilseed rape is quickly coming to the stage where it will need to be desiccated and the difference between the spring and winter sown oats is now fully apparent with the winter sown visibly turning.