As 2019 begins it makes sense to look back at 2018 and see are there any lessons to be learned or mistakes to be avoided. On the livestock, side three incidents left a real impression and a firm resolution of improvement was made.

Water

The first was the importance of continuous clean water. It sounds so basic and yet it is so easily overlooked. In my view, it is especially important for cattle when they have travelled and are under some degree of stress.

I suspect most farms are the same in that fresh cattle are always unloaded into the same convenient pen and let settle for a few days on a bed of clean straw and the best hay that is available. We had an extra-large drinking trough in that pen, but despite everything being done to have the freshly arrived cattle well-fed, watered and bedded there was the occasional case of mortality.

I put it down to travel and general hardship. Usually if there is a death, we have as full a post-mortem, but in all the inspections by various experts never was the cleanliness of the water critically examined – until the snow of last March when the water froze and as the trough was drunk almost dry we saw that there was a build-up of dung in the bottom of it.

We moved the trough, put in a smaller one that was easy to clean out properly and since then touch wood there hasn’t been a problem. A lesson learned.

Straw

The second new lesson on the livestock side is the importance of good sweet straw. Like most farmers with feeders, we incorporate a bit less than 1kg of straw per head per day so that the fibre can stimulate rumen function.

One day during the year a vet of long experience dropped in. He looked all round and zoned in on the straw. He said bits of it were mouldy and not suitable. While I took his point I had little option as the straw season of the autumn of 2017 had been very difficult. Nevertheless, the experienced vet’s view turned out to be valid. Two mature bulls developed symptoms very similar to mycoplasma bovis, with swollen joints and an inability to get up.

After giving them every chance, we had to get both of them put down. I am not sure how contagious the mycoplasma bovis organism is but I feared the worst.

In the event once we changed the straw the problem disappeared and with the excellent 2018 straw the problem has thankfully not reoccurred.

Crops

On the crop front, the summer drought left us with two very clear outcomes. The first is that spring crops in a year like 2018 come under real pressure that results in hugely reduced yields. The only spring crop we had were the beans and they suffered late sowing, drought and prolonged heat.

The result – a 50% decrease in yield. It’s clear from the 2018 harvest that the general run of winter crops, at least on our land, are much more resilient.

Occasionally we have seen some severe frost cause superficial damage but the effect on yield has never been noticeable. The only winter crop that was affected by the summer drought and heat was the oats.

From talking to a range of growers it is clear that some varieties of autumn sown oats were almost completely unaffected by the extreme weather, while others, including the variety I sowed, had at least a 30% decrease in yield coupled with a much reduced bushel weight. As this is the variety I am contracted to grow, it seems that all I can look for is some kind of guaranteed safety net. To begin the discussion is one of my new year resolutions.