In your field: Ian Garnett - 'I suspect the grazed group will have to wait to Christmas to reach parity'

Late autumn and crops locally are basically harvested with some maize fields sneaking past 20 tonne fresh weight to the acre.  

Analysis of maize for us appears satisfactory, especially as we were cutting at the end of September. Dry matter 31.6, Starch 37, D value 75 and ME a whisker short of 12, so the challenge for us is if we can turn this into milk. 

Interestingly, some of you may remember this year we trialled housing our fresh calved cows early autumn on one of the farms. Usually, grazing all season for all cows is the norm for us and we are happy with it but to compare both systems was worthwhile.  

Initial August/September production was marginally improved on the housed fresh group but, as many of you know, humidity challenges were at play. Then, as October arrived, the difference became significant. I suspect the grazed group may have to wait up to Christmas to reach parity. 

Shed logistics and feeding might mean splitting the other herd's fresh calved cows away is too challenging this winter but the exercise is definitely throwing up some interesting results and is worthy of fine tuning. 

On farm this week saw a short notice cross compliance visit. The inspector was thorough but fair and very patient as I tried to remember where on earth I'd put everything.  

The weather, although wet, has not been disastrous just yet so we have embarked on a program of fencing outlying silage/grass blocks to allow youngstock later grazing. Mains electric and a well drilled team on farm make an excellent job of fencing. I sometimes wonder if those 2am phone calls in the past asking for help to round up stray heifers helped to focus the mind on quality fencing.  

Likewise, I am so very grateful to the team for their excellent management of lagoons just prior to the window closing and the wet weather arriving. 

I read an article this week which raised an eyebrow regarding the food service supply to schools, hospitals and local authorities. Apparently when questioned on antibiotic residues, the information coming back was at best patchy. I wonder if the origin of source may have a part to play in the vague information. It has highlighted to me that the progress made by UK food production in the areas of food safety, quality and welfare may need greater promotion and recognition in order to get UK food on to UK plates as a first choice.