With nobody forecasting a buoyant cereal price for the coming harvest, the price we pay for inputs is going to be really important. Top of the list is fertiliser.

There is not much use in pretending otherwise, but for cereals I have always preferred calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) over the cheaper per unit priced urea.

This year, with only protected urea available, the gap between urea and CAN is likely to be smaller though I have to get definite quotes to confirm my view.

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We also need to get quotes for the first fertiliser application which will be an NPK compound.

We have also received the last of the payments for the 2025 harvest with the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) money lodged while the co-op top-up on all grain supplied has also arrived in the bank.

Having compared the figures, total 2025 harvest receipts are a full 40% below the 2022 receipts but with higher costs.

On a practical note, while the recent cold weather has prevented growth of both crops and grass, until this week, the fields were drying out well and ditches that would normally be full of water at this time of year were empty.

The recent application of the herbicide to the winter barley and wheat has left hardly any tracks.

On the cattle side we are preparing to sell our first load of 2026.

Having thought about it, we intend to replace as we sell. If we are to stick with a beef finishing enterprise, we have to keep stock numbers up and have enough cattle on hand to keep the grass under control, while aiming for maximum weight gain from grazing.

Over the next week or so I would hope that we would begin grazing by day the lighter stores that we have on hand while giving them silage and a small amount of meal in the evening.

At this stage, we seem to have a good supply of silage on hand which should allow some flexibility in both buying and selling. That said, the recovery in the late grazed paddocks is poor – we are a long way from attempting to graze them.