We have now finished one of the most difficult autumns I remember.

All the winter crops are in except the oats, which is for the gluten free market. As it is a spring variety it can wait until the February/March period, but I would certainly suffer a yield penalty of somewhere between 0.5-1t/ac.

The last time I sowed oats in poor conditions, it was a mess. It lodged badly - at least half the crop was a write off and it left a stubble that needed rotavating to chop the mass of material left on the ground.

It’s on that basis that I am prepared to leave it until the spring unless we get suitable conditions within the next fortnight.

On the plus side, soil temperatures are high with the continuous warm weather. All the wheat is now well germinated with tramlines fully visible, though we got none of it rolled.

The oilseed rape is well advanced, with plants meeting well across the rows and not much space for pigeons to graze, though it’s early days yet.

The combination of rain and soft ground conditions have so far prevented us from getting any herbicide out onto the crops. I am told there is a wide window for the application so presumably a chance will come.

Cattle

On the cattle side, we have some covers that we are still trying to graze out - not easy in the wet weather and poor conditions to strike the right balance between doing as little poaching as possible while still getting a reasonable clean-out of the paddocks.

It is striking how the botanical composition of individual paddocks seems to vary depending on how tightly they have been grazed and what ground conditions have been like.

I haven’t seen any definitive guidance on this subject but there must be a reservoir of knowledge in the country.

Meanwhile our single farm payment has arrived safely following our being selected for a special satellite inspection.

I am conscious that from now on we face into a serious reduction of our annual payments as convergence, front loading and reduced eco-payments replace the 30% greening payment.

That’s assuming we qualify for the new eco-payment, which I see we must separately apply for.

I intend to go to the nearest Irish Farmers Journal CAP information meeting this week and see what I have missed. See page 21 to find out when and where your nearest CAP meeting will be.