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Never mind Millennials or Generation-Z, in the NI farming community there is only one generational divide – those who farmed though 1985 and those who didn’t.
For those of us in the second category, we are often told of the harvest horror stories of this annus horribilis, with abandoned combines in Somme-like conditions, cattle housed throughout the summer and second cuts being made in October.
With record rainfall this July, comparisons have been made with the pain of ’85. However, while there may be more rain this year, the reality is that machinery, tyre and grazing infrastructure developments have allowed us to cope much better with such circumstances.
Silage
Our second cut in 2023 was the epitome of a smash-and-grab harvest. With mowing commencing in the early hours of Monday 25 July, grass was promptly tedded to make the most of any drying the day would offer. The harvester followed after the rake that evening.
Fortunately the rain held off (pretty much) until all grass was ensiled or round-baled by Tuesday afternoon. What followed was a number of days of intermittent heavy rain showers.
To say I am thankful to the contactor who enabled us to do that would be a massive understatement. It would have been impossible for our DIY system to harvest in the very short windows available.
While the grass was at least three weeks beyond its optimum and is not going to set any records for milk from forage, the rapid wilt ensured there was surprisingly little effluent to contend with.
Hopefully we have maintained the majority of the low level of sugars that the grass contained.
Warm, damp conditions have also allowed remarkably quick regrowth. Both slurry and nitrogen have been applied with the intention of a third cut but I will be equally happy if it provides quality, later-season grazing.
Technology
While there have been major advances in machinery since the days of 1985, we are seeing even greater changes in technology use on farms.
It appears the era of a simple mobile phone to make a few calls is coming to an end.
So many aspects of farming life now require the use of a smart phone – whether it is web-based calving cameras, calving alert sensors, some herd management and heat detection software and of course the agri WhatsApp group. It means the simple mobile will increasingly be confined to police dramas as “burner phones”.
iPhone age
My father recently reluctantly took the step into the iPhone age after the sad loss of his dependable Doro phone.
Unable to find it after several days of searching in vain he reluctantly made the upgrade.
Shortly after the Doro was recovered in a feed passage, and despite its reliable nature it was seemingly unable to survive falling out of a pocket and being crushed by a sheargrab and a block of silage.
In fairness dad has taken extremely well to the computing power he now has in his pocket and has discovered features that I didn’t know it has.
I am, however, reluctant to introduce him to TikTok – not that I am scared that he will upload any dance videos, but because I wish I had never discovered it due to its highly addictive nature.
The algorithm quickly learned of my farming viewing preferences and continually presents me with video after video on cattle breeding, grassland management and various agri related debates on a range of subjects.
While the content of such videos is entirely productive, its addictive nature can mean that a “quick browse” can result in falling asleep on the sofa, being woken by Lynsey at midnight with a video on loop of a Cork dairy farmer demonstrating how to establish a clover sward!
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