There was talk of combines getting stuck in the ground around the area, but thankfully we had no difficulty with ground conditions. However, the yield of my February-sown winter wheat was mediocre at best. I don’t have the full figure yet, but I will be surprised if it is much over 2.25t/ac. In truth, it never got a chance – while it was sown in reasonable conditions in February, the field was saturated with at least a fortnight’s heavy rain, so germination was poor and patchy.

The period after the endless rain was followed in our part of the country by an unusually dry April and a scorching May

The wheat followed a crop of oats. We had made the mistake of trying to save the oaten straw and missed the brief chance of getting the field sown in October. The period after the endless rain was followed in our part of the country by an unusually dry April and a scorching May. The crop struggled every step of the way, despite a lot of money spent on plant protection and bio stimulants. The wet summer and early autumn did the crop no favours and the end result will, I suspect, show a significant loss after all the effort. As well as the harvest being delayed, so too has the planting of the oilseed rape. We are sowing as I write, right up against what I regard as the final sowing date for winter oilseed rape. Conditions are acceptable, but not exceptional by any stretch.

We are bringing them in from grass when they are around 570kg and then aiming to have them gone in 50 to 65 days

We still have some late-planted oats to harvest and then the spring beans. Meanwhile on the cattle side, we are continuing to sell our dairy beef steers as they become fit. At the production end, they are working out OK. The target of a 310-320kg O= 3= carcase is being met. We are bringing them in from grass when they are around 570kg and then aiming to have them gone in 50 to 65 days. The problem is the lack of profitability. Every day they are in the house they are losing money, if you compare the value of the weight gain with the cost of feed, but the final finishing period is critical if they are to have sufficient fat cover to meet the factory specifications. So, the best of the cheap grass is being undone to a large extent by the cost of the final finishing period. If we were handling pure beef-bred cattle, they would finish off grass alone for much of the year, but the swing towards a more specialised dairy-type has made a finishing period essential if market quality demands are to be met.