The application form for the current CAP Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) payment arrived at the end of last week.
This year’s form came with the full details of field use and maps and at this stage, after five years, it had an air of familiarity about it.
With a deadline for submission in mid-May, there are over two months to complete the form. The new tillage sustainability scheme was a useful rehearsal.
It simply involved going online with our Agfood number and scrolling down the various schemes, clicking on the required scheme and pressing submit.
Meanwhile, leaving aside the paperwork, the downpours we had at the end of last week delayed normal field activity yet again.
We had a load of fit cattle which went off to the factory. The gap in the price per kilogramme of liveweight going out and the cost of stores coming in is wider than I ever remember it, even though at this stage the stores rather than going out to grass are going straight into the shed.
During the week we took delivery of most of the spring fertiliser. Normally we would take most of it in bulk as a cost saving measure but this year, the bays in the shed that we would normally use are full of meal for the cattle, so we have simply taken it in half-tonne bags.
Given the forecast of some dry weather at last, the aim is to get a good dressing on the oilseed rape and winter barley as soon as possible. But the drains are still flowing vigorously forcing me to come to the conclusion that the old clay tile drains, while long lasting, are simply too narrow to get rid of the volumes of water that have fallen this year as quickly as we would like.
Our more recent drains are wider and the difference in ground conditions in these areas versus where we rely on the old system is striking.
The application form for the current CAP Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) payment arrived at the end of last week.
This year’s form came with the full details of field use and maps and at this stage, after five years, it had an air of familiarity about it.
With a deadline for submission in mid-May, there are over two months to complete the form. The new tillage sustainability scheme was a useful rehearsal.
It simply involved going online with our Agfood number and scrolling down the various schemes, clicking on the required scheme and pressing submit.
Meanwhile, leaving aside the paperwork, the downpours we had at the end of last week delayed normal field activity yet again.
We had a load of fit cattle which went off to the factory. The gap in the price per kilogramme of liveweight going out and the cost of stores coming in is wider than I ever remember it, even though at this stage the stores rather than going out to grass are going straight into the shed.
During the week we took delivery of most of the spring fertiliser. Normally we would take most of it in bulk as a cost saving measure but this year, the bays in the shed that we would normally use are full of meal for the cattle, so we have simply taken it in half-tonne bags.
Given the forecast of some dry weather at last, the aim is to get a good dressing on the oilseed rape and winter barley as soon as possible. But the drains are still flowing vigorously forcing me to come to the conclusion that the old clay tile drains, while long lasting, are simply too narrow to get rid of the volumes of water that have fallen this year as quickly as we would like.
Our more recent drains are wider and the difference in ground conditions in these areas versus where we rely on the old system is striking.
SHARING OPTIONS