We are now knuckling down for the winter. With all the planned crops sown, we are now concentrating on protecting potential yield to the greatest extent possible. Top of the list is slugs. The oilseed rape has already got one application. The recent mild weather has seen good growth of crops that are undesirably patchy in places so the temptation is to skip a second application which some growers I have spoken to have already applied. I have no such leeway with the winter wheat. The commercial wheat has gone in with the unsaved oaten straw spread out with a hay tedder and ploughed down. This with some moisture will be an ideal breeding ground for slugs. Similarly, I am too cowardly to ignore the potential for damage in my gluten-free oats sown into oilseed rape stubble – the classic high slug risk environment. The final wheat is a seed crop sown after beans and, already, there are signs of damage.

On the cattle side, I had been hoping at this stage that a lift in beef prices would be well under way in preparation for stock building for the Christmas season but it hasn’t happened yet. Nevertheless, I have no option but to continue selling bulls as they reach either their target weight of 420kg or the age limit of 22 months. At this time of the year, I am conscious that slurry cannot be spread until mid-January but the tanks are all reasonably empty so I hope to be spared the useless, messy and time-consuming task of transferring slurry from a full to a less full tank.