Rodney Down: Smash and grab in-calf heifers lose all respect for fencing

The internet has proven most useful this summer, the weather reports are looked at twice a day and now the grain price is looked at 10 times per day. What was sold at breakfast time was wrong at lunch time and looked very cheap by tea time. What I really need is a fancy phone so I could do it all from the combine seat!

Even more depressing was loading a lorry that was sold at the silly low of £100/t. Every bucket of grain was a potential £50 lost, but it looked right at the time I kept telling myself.

Without any clear winners or losers this year, we are sticking with our three varieties for next years’ increased acreage of Claire, Oakley and Diego.

Dairy cows are settled in the cubicles at night so we have decided not to upset them by letting them out now we have a little more grass.

In-calf heifers are a worry as, so far, they have lost all respect for fencing and grazed two gardens, the neighbour’s round bale hay, the entire ditch and the neighbour’s grass field as well. The grass saved by not letting the cows out at night may suddenly come in useful.

The winter feeding this year will feature a lot of dairy cake instead of the high amounts of wheat and straights. This decision was made after forward buying a competitive dairy cake. It also means more grain to sell to help my average.

As we head towards maize harvest, which is about two to three weeks away at most, we have concreted out the maize clamps finishing what was started last year.

The maize looks average or below this year but what is noticeable is every plant has two cobs, with not much height. Should this analyse to be very high in starch? Or am I being too optimistic?

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