In your field

Rodney Down: Harvesting under way a month early

3 August 2010

How different can two years be? We started harvest one month earlier than last year and, after clearing the safari which had established itself in the grain tank, we polished the old girl off, performed a bit of lubrication and were ready to go.

At 27 years old, she has had some experience, but probably nothing tops the last couple of years. However, both driver and harvester are hoping for a smooth one this time round.

What is for sure is that there will not be as much grain to handle, as the first field of Claire on lighter land is estimated to be yielding around the 9 tonnes per hectare (3.6t/acre) mark.

I was wondering what we were going to do with all the extra time on our hands if we were this early.

I have always said the devil makes work for idle thumbs, but as the dry weather has stopped grass growth, we are already feeding hay to three groups of youngstock and in-calf heifers.

High yielding and fresh-calving cows (more than 26 litres) are being kept in at night. We were concerned about the heat stress of making cows stand up for an hour after milking in order to eat the buffer.

Milk has eased up slightly, but it is early days to see if it is paying for itself.

Now that cereals are required again, we are reviewing the winter feeding of wheat in favour of a bought-in dairy cake.

The price is not that much different from wheat after the cost of treatment has been included, and the dairy concentrate would be higher in protein.

With half the wheat sold forward and half the protein for the winter secured, I now have a chance to correct my average.

I must add what an enjoyable day I had in Devon judging wheat with two farmers of the older generation for company. It was like a magical mystery tour.

All those judged had crops to be proud of and it was very difficult to rank them. What was noticeable was how much greener the crops are just over the border.

May I wish everybody a pleasant and trouble-free harvest.