The price of bought-in replacement cattle has shaken me out of my complacency.

As the last of the shed cattle went to the factory, we could look back on an extraordinary feeding period, grateful that we had benefited from an unexpected rise in beef prices.

But in fact it looks as if it will be mostly a capital gain rather than a permanent increase in income.

The buoyant trade for replacement stock has meant that the amount of money required to stock the grassland has risen by about 30%.

How much will translate into extra income won’t be clear until we have built up numbers to our summer normal, but it’s a lesson that to take the rough with the smooth in cattle farming, numbers of stock have to be kept up.

We have had tremendous regrowth in our silage ground with the well-agitated slurry giving it a good start, but we still have to take our 2025 crop of hay.

The aim is to use the surplus grass and get it made before the harvest starts.

The warm weather is transforming the crops.

I would be surprised if we do not move into the winter barley within the next 10 days and it might well be sooner.

The oats are turning by the day while the beans are unexpectedly producing pods at the lower end of the stems.

The damp muggy weather is, I reckon, ideal for the development of chocolate spot and I am tempted to move in with a late-season preventative spray but I will get advice first.

In the meantime, as we prepare for the harvest, we have received official notification of membership of the grain quality assurance scheme.

I have been a member for a long time of the grain assurance scheme (IGAS), partly because for some of the crops I grow, it is obligatory to be a member. I also think that anything that differentiates our home-produced grain from imported material should have the potential to deliver an enhanced price based on traceability, lower carbon footprint etc.

So far that hasn’t happened, but this year we have been instructed that we should have our IGAS number clearly visible on each trailer load of grain as it is delivered to the intake point. This is the first time our grain has had to be identified like this so maybe it’s in preparation for some form of extra payment!  We can only wait and hope.

Given this year’s costs of production and the quoted prices, every penny is going to be needed – no matter where it comes from.