This extraordinary but really welcome spell of fine dry weather in late August has been a godsend.

It has let us finish the wheat and oats in terrific conditions, as well as getting all the wheaten straw baled for the mushroom market.

We also baled a small field of oilseed rape straw, which we had not included in the Straw Incorporation Scheme.

I think it is fair to say that prices have been higher than we expected

All the oaten straw was chopped as we had committed.

Apart from the beans, that is the end of the 2021 harvest. I think it is fair to say that prices have been higher than we expected. With the benefit of hindsight, I made a mistake in selling more than half of the winter barley forward – everything else is paid the price on the day.

The oilseed rape gave about 2 .5 bales/ac of similar sized bales

Wheat yields have been remarkably consistent at around 4.3t-4.4t per acre, with just short of four bales of 8 x 4 x 4 per acre of straw. The oilseed rape gave about 2 .5 bales/ac of similar sized bales. The new variety of oats yielded a strong 4t, though the thunder storms the preceding weekend left a visible effect, with the beginnings of straw breakdown.

In the event, it didn’t matter with the excellent weather.

We could now do with some mild rain to get the crop to germinate and establish itself

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the short-lived heatwave let us clear the winter barley straw and over the weekend, we were able to take advantage of the weather and get the oilseed rape for the 2022 harvest sown in excellent conditions and rolled.

We could now do with some mild rain to get the crop to germinate and establish itself.

On the cattle side, we have been buying in dribs and drabs. On average, each animal is costing over €100 more than this time last year.

At this stage, fertiliser prices seem to be going up almost by the day

This year, for the first time, we are tracking, on a computer programme, the number of days each animal is spending at grass, how much weight they are putting on over the grazing period and, most importantly, how long they are spending on the high cost final finishing diet.

At this stage, fertiliser prices seem to be going up almost by the day. I will certainly put off any fertiliser purchases until we see how things settle down, but the industry historically has had an uncanny ability to follow grain prices up. This year is proving to be typical in that regard.