With the change to dairy beef, we are much slower to bring the cattle in than with the young bulls.

I was constantly disappointed with how the bulls did on grass after about 1 July.

This is the first year we will have accurate figures on how the more mature bullocks perform and the comparison will be interesting, to say the least.

I am still not sure on how much meal the stores intended for grazing will need over the winter.

The most recent soil analysis showed most of the place had a pH of around 6.7 to 7.0

We will get the different cuts of silage analysed, but despite the price of meal, I am resigned to having to put those intended for beef on a ration that will have them grading a minimum of 3= when they go to the factory.

This year, for the first time in many years, we are spreading lime on two of our bigger fields.

The most recent soil analysis showed most of the place had a pH of around 6.7 to 7.0, with some fields running above 7.

The lowest of our tillage fields was 6.3 and while probably OK for wheat, and certainly for oats, for oilseed rape and barley, the closer we get to pH 7 the better.

With the harvest all done and the winter barley and oilseed rape sown, we will get the winter wheat sown as soon as possible.

Though this year, we are sowing the wheat at a slightly lower seeding rate, with an unexpectedly low 1,000 grain weight

This year’s crops emphasised – at least for me – the desirability of earlier sowing and at least having established crops to work with coming into the winter, rather than the disaster of mucking in during a wet autumn and postponing some crops until spring.

Though this year, we are sowing the wheat at a slightly lower seeding rate, with an unexpectedly low 1,000 grain weight.

Meanwhile in the yard, we have replaced one of the roofs of the slatted shed. It was, when it was built, the second slatted house in the county, but after 46 years, the condensation and rust got the better of it.