With just a few over-wintered cattle left in the sheds, our attention is switching to the crops. Forward prices are, to put it at its mildest, disappointing.

I have seen little analysis of what is actually driving the cereal markets so low, except the apparent promise of good harvests almost worldwide – American trouble in China and huge Russian wheat sales to Egypt.

All of this is irrelevant from our individual point of view. The fact that we are barred from using active ingredients and GM technology, which are freely allowed outside of the EU simply puts us at a real comparative disadvantage.

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This adds to our sense of grievance not to mention the imposition of extra customs barriers on Russian fertiliser.

But to get back within our own fields.

Our two-row winter barley is showing definite signs of having had enough wind and rain after the continuous downpours at the end of last week. There are odd spots of lodging, especially under trees along the hedges, but hopefully, with a good forecast, we will not have any serious losses.

Usual buyer

While the crop is turning, it certainly is not as advanced as some neighbouring six-row crops. It’s still too early to wonder when we might harvest, but we have already lined up our normal buyer for the winter barley straw.

Under the contract we have for the winter barley, we are forbidden to use any pre-harvest glyphosate, so we will need a decent spell of weather to even up the crop.

The oats on the other hand have visibly thrived in the wet weather of the last week or so. A few years ago, the oats lodged disastrously after similar weather, but with an extra application of growth regulator every year since then, the crop has stood really well.

The wheat has now been given its final ear spray, so it is simply a question of waiting and keeping an eye on prices to see if it is worthwhile selling a proportion of the crop forward.

Normally we begin buying in some cattle after the first-cut silage has been made. It was clearly, with the benefit of hindsight, the right thing to do last year. This year, I am not so sure.

The availability of the genetic makeup of a growing proportion of the bought in cattle is giving us a real insight into the commercial beef value of the stock we have, but ultimately, the profit in the normal year comes from the weight gain from grass.

Bonus

This year has, at least so far, been an exception with low concentrate prices and stronger beef prices than expected giving a bonus, but we don’t want to give it all away as we replace.

In the meantime, I was interested to read the latest note from the Department of Agriculture as they attempt to reduce the incidence of TB. The ban on feeding meal directly on the grass strikes me as sensible from a disease prevention point of view but it is difficult to feed numbers in troughs outside.

We will, I think, have to bring the Holstein Angus crosses in for the final 30-35 days of finishing.

Pure traditional beef breeds will, in our experience, finish fine on good grass.