Suddenly the summer has gone, and while it is still mild, we have had lots of rain and the parched look has already disappeared as grass fields green up and stubbles soften up to be fit for ploughing.

On Tuesday of last week, we were in the thick of sowing the oilseed rape. There were warnings everywhere not to sow until the rain came, but it was promised even though we were in a long, dry warm spell.

Anyway, we went ahead. Most of it went in after the winter barley. We had obeyed the rules of those early post-harvest days and dutifully stubble cultivated, so we disced the grubbed ground with crumbler bars attached to the disc and direct drilled the small oilseed rape seed with a one-pass system.

Winter wheat

With the early wheat harvested, we ploughed two small fields of harvested winter wheat. It was tough going, especially on the compacted headland, but it was all done, sown and rolled by Wednesday 31 August ahead of my self-imposed deadline of 1 September.

The slug pellets are in the yard waiting to be spread and we will then assess what weed control is necessary on the Clearfield variety that I have used for the last few years.

The advantage of this Clearfield development is that it allows excellent control of the charlock, which is botanically very similar to oilseed rape and can be a real nuisance.

The fine spell also gave us a chance to get all the straw cleared and stacked. Wheaten straw yields were good this year at between four and five 8x4x4 bales/acre but this is the first year that last year’s straw has not been fully cleared by this year’s harvest. Last year’s oilseed rape straw is also still sitting here.

As I have been already paid in full for last year’s I don’t particularly mind having it on the place for an extra period of time but I wonder what has happened to the overall demand for straw?

Straw supplies

There had been concern that the Straw Incorporation Measure would leave straw scarce and dear, but this has visibly not happened, despite normal cattle numbers and good prices, especially for milk and dairy stock.

We have more than enough wheaten straw in sheds to incorporate into the diet feeder for the cattle for the next year and with the switch to a predominantly Angus-based dairy beef steer, we have sent over enough grain to a neighbour for storing and rolling to last us until about Easter I reckon – but we still have to harvest the beans.

The dry weather has given us excellent utilisation of the available grass and we are already seeing some fresh growth. The aim at this stage is to have everything housed by 10 November with no excessive covers in any field.