The 2020 winter barley harvest was the lowest yielding that I can remember. At almost exactly 3t/acre, one of the few consolations was excellent quality in terms of bushel weight and moisture content of the grain but the protein in two artic loads was too high to qualify for the maximum price. This, I presume, was due to the high rainfall in the weeks before harvest.

How often have I heard the phrase “rain substitutes for nitrogen” and looking at the grass regrowth after silage and grazing, the saying is true. While I was grateful to get the crop finished before the rain, the straw is still on the ground and will need a few fine days to allow for turning and drying. Part of the difficulty in a year like this is the growth of new green tillers in tramlines which leaves the straw too variable. It needed to have Roundup applied a week or 10 days before harvest but that was not allowed under my contract.

On the cattle side, we have a good handle on how the dairy steers are performing. Two key points stand out. The first is that unlike bulls, once steers hit a degree of finish every extra pound goes on as fat and the daily gain declines dramatically, whereas bulls will put on muscle almost indefinitely and with the fat taking about three times as much feed as muscle, the economics are obvious. The second point is that P grade steers from the dairy herd are a disaster. They lose the breed bonuses, kill out badly and are heavily penalised if paid on the grid. I will avoid them to the greatest extent possible.