I farm: “About 300ac of arable land along with 300ac of grassland. We keep a flock of 650 ewes and 40 suckler cows. This week we made about 100 bales of silage that will hopefully fill the fodder deficit. I was worried that I was going to be short. It’s unusual to be making silage in October but the quality seems very good.
Sucklers: “We operate a spring-calving herd, with cows calving down from mid-March onwards. We try and breed for a milky cow and the herd is made up of Angus cross and Simmental cross cows with a Shorthorn bull used this year. Calves are generally housed in November, weaned with calves sold as stores the following year. We sold some 15 month old stores in the past few weeks with a 450kg steer making £910.
Flock: “We keep about 650 breeding ewes, which are mainly Texel cross and Suffolk cross. We try and lamb in mid-February with the tups going out on 20 September. We had 360 tupped in the first 17 days so February will be busy. We lamb indoors and February is a good month to be able to get labour, but we might have to look at the lambing date in the future if we have more events like the Beast from the East. We only have about 30 or 40 lighter lambs left to go but the market for these longer-keep lambs doesn’t seem to be there with the uncertainty around Brexit.
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Sowing: “The weather has been good and dry with brilliant autumn sowing conditions. We are still sowing winter wheat in the ground where potatoes are being harvested out of. We also generally grow winter oats and spring barley. It is generally all malting barley we grow and while yields were back this year a price of £200/t is good to see.
Quotable quote: “It is as dry as I have seen it for this time of the year. Grass is disappearing but grazing conditions are very good. We will have enough to get into November and anything after that is a bonus.”
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I farm: “About 300ac of arable land along with 300ac of grassland. We keep a flock of 650 ewes and 40 suckler cows. This week we made about 100 bales of silage that will hopefully fill the fodder deficit. I was worried that I was going to be short. It’s unusual to be making silage in October but the quality seems very good.
Sucklers: “We operate a spring-calving herd, with cows calving down from mid-March onwards. We try and breed for a milky cow and the herd is made up of Angus cross and Simmental cross cows with a Shorthorn bull used this year. Calves are generally housed in November, weaned with calves sold as stores the following year. We sold some 15 month old stores in the past few weeks with a 450kg steer making £910.
Flock: “We keep about 650 breeding ewes, which are mainly Texel cross and Suffolk cross. We try and lamb in mid-February with the tups going out on 20 September. We had 360 tupped in the first 17 days so February will be busy. We lamb indoors and February is a good month to be able to get labour, but we might have to look at the lambing date in the future if we have more events like the Beast from the East. We only have about 30 or 40 lighter lambs left to go but the market for these longer-keep lambs doesn’t seem to be there with the uncertainty around Brexit.
Sowing: “The weather has been good and dry with brilliant autumn sowing conditions. We are still sowing winter wheat in the ground where potatoes are being harvested out of. We also generally grow winter oats and spring barley. It is generally all malting barley we grow and while yields were back this year a price of £200/t is good to see.
Quotable quote: “It is as dry as I have seen it for this time of the year. Grass is disappearing but grazing conditions are very good. We will have enough to get into November and anything after that is a bonus.”
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