Opinions may vary but this year it seems very obvious that the mild, dry autumn weather has encouraged exceptional growth of white clover in permanent pasture.

On a rough reckoning, I’d say that most of our permanent pastures have a clover content of about 20%. This is on fields that have been grazed and received no nitrogen.

On the other hand, reseeded paddocks that have been cut twice for silage have little or no clover though there is obviously some residual nitrogen as the sward has recovered, with good bulk and is a vibrant green.

The first time I saw grass swards dominated by white clover was on my first trip to the Argentinian Pampas before the whole area converted to min-till tillage. At that time in the early 1990s one of the main problems with the dominance of clover was a high incidence of fatal bloat. We are a long way from that with our present levels of clover but at present levels, it’s a welcome addition.

Out in the tillage fields, all the winter barley has got an aphicide to protect against barley yellow dwarf virus which can cause visible damage with a premature yield-sapping yellowing later on in the Spring. Weather conditions are ideal for aphids, the same conditions also seem to favour slugs.

Even though we rolled all the winter oats, there are very clear signs of slug damage in the fields following the oat straw chopping and incorporation. As usual, we have followed the oats with feed wheat which is well up, with the tramlines fully visible.

We have applied slug pellets with a neighbour using a spreader on his quad. The mention of feed wheat reminds me that for the first time in about 40 years, we have no seed contract this year. When I contacted my usual customer to discuss acreage and variety, I was told that I was too far away from the normal intake point and everything had been allocated to more local growers. No prior warning - disappointing, but that’s the way it is.

In an ironic way, the mild weather has in fact added to the workload at this stage while all the crops are safely sown apart from the beans. We are trying to ensure that they stay as clean and healthy as possible. We still have cattle out by day, others out the whole time and the ones for finishing in completely.

The most forward cattle are now on a full finishing diet with the aim to have them ready in about two to three weeks.