When I luckily finished the wheat last Sunday week, the rest of August and the summer seemed to stretch endlessly ahead. Not any longer. Half the straw is still unbaled, the hay in 4x4 bales is still out and I have still to plough for the oilseed rape. Suddenly the year is threatening to be late.

It is extraordinary that the new yield target in Ireland now seems to be 2t/acre and while I was comparatively happy to have harvested 1.9t, I have spoken to several farmers who have achieved 2.2t, a figure that would have seemed a pipe dream a comparatively short number of years ago when 1.3t was respectable and 1.5t excellent.

Meanwhile, with enforced idleness on the tillage side, activity on the cattle side has ramped up. We have taken delivery of a few loads of weanlings at this stage and we continue to sell bulls. The amount of labour with bulls hits me at this time of the year. They have to be selected for the age, weight and fat specification. With bullocks, we used to simply pick a load of fit cattle and off they went.

They are also in the house for the final 100 to 120 days so there is time, labour and cost in feeding and dealing with slurry to have the tanks empty as we came into the winter. We are also continuously doing some zero grazing in the interests of both animal performance and grass utilisation. Because of my customer’s requirement for the Italian market, I have committed to zero antibiotic usage for the animals’ lifetime. I wonder, in taking this purist approach, are we turning our back on what science has developed? Responsible use of antibiotics has, in my view, given enhanced animal welfare through the relief of sickness and enhanced economic performance by having healthier stock.

It seems to be OK at this time of the year but I am uneasy about the effects on weanlings that face into cold November rain after going through weaning, being sold through the mart and facing a long truck journey. I will be interested to see how this measure works in practice. The continuous wet weather has also meant some cutting up around the drinking troughs in fields – most unusual for what is still meant to be ‘‘high summer’’.

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Lots of rain leads to harvest woes