We are as ready for winter as we can be. The last fortnight of ideal weather has let us get all the winter crops sown in as close to perfect conditions as I can remember.
In fact, the first of the winter barley is peeping above ground after just 10 days.
While it is hugely satisfying to get it so well established, the world is awash with grain as we keep being told, so any profit forecast at this stage is impossible.
The rain over the weekend also helped the new grass,which is now a uniform green, and is growing strongly.
We seem to have been spared the intense downpours of the south and we have an abundance of aftergrass which we will graze paddock by paddock, moving the fence each day and hoping to avoid too much damage.
Cattle
We sold our final load of cattle last week – what an extraordinary season where the price in mid-October was much the same as the peak in May.
With prices at this level, the amount of capital at risk in a finishing operation is scary, but if we want to stay in beef production, we have no option but to continue to replace.
On a different note we received, at the end of last week and on time, the first tranche of our BISS payment. There are now so many elements to the payment that if last year is anything to go by, it will come in dribs and drabs between now and mid-December.
While every penny is welcome, I expect the final amount to be about two-thirds of what it was eight years ago. What has happened to costs and grain prices is too clear.
At the same time, there are new rules and regulations that have to be observed.
We have finished, with help, our obligatory nutrient management plan and filed our report on how much fertiliser we have carried over from this season.
All of this sounds routine but it is time consuming, and the penalties for getting it wrong can be significant.
A few years ago, we miscalculated our phosphate levels and paid a penalty in the form of a percentage reduction in our single farm payment. The lesson to get competent, qualified help was learned.
SHARING OPTIONS