After a slow start harvest is complete. All the barley has been through the bruiser and the final yield tally is an average of 8t/ha, a big lift compared with last year. The straw yield is also up by nearly a third, to 25 round bales per hectare. Between this and the usual acreage of straw purchased from the coast, Scott (my son) has been busy with the baler.

The straw at home is all gathered and stored for winter and most of the purchased straw is also in storage. However, with the flooding around Banff a couple of weeks back, getting to the remaining straw is difficult as several bridges have been washed away. Hopefully it will all be home in the next week or so.

Just over 34ha were sown over the weekend of 28 September for next year. Most of the crop is Sunningdale hybrid, with the rest down to Tower. Sunningdale is a new variety for us and we have heard good things about it, so I look forward to seeing how it performs.

Sheep

Lambs have been a little slower in coming ready this year and there are now four draws away. This first draw of 20 was nearly a month later than last year. However, performance is much more even and there are now 270 lambs sold to average £75. While price has been disappointing, they have not eaten any hard feed at all this year, so their costs are low.

The most recent draw was sold live as there was a three-week queue at the abattoir and we didn’t want the lambs going out of preferred specification. With 450 lambs weaned, this means there are 180 lambs still to sell. They are on grass just now, but current thinking is that they will move up on to the Swift for a few weeks to finish them off.

No ewe lambs have been kept as replacements this year; 100 Cheviot gimmers and 30 Cheviot ewes were purchased at £90 and £72/head respectively. This increases the ewes to the tup by another 50 this year, to 350. They have been given quarantine drenches of Zolvix to clear out worms and Dectomax for external parasites. They have also been vaccinated for enzootic abortion and with Heptavac.

Four new tups were purchased this year, a Suffolk, a Bluefaced Leicester, a Charollais and a Texel. They too have undergone the quarantine treatments to keep the flock clean.

Autumn calvers

In total, there are 54 autumn cows and 17 replacement heifers left to calve just now. So far, seven have calved, complete with two sets of twins. Those with calves at foot are still outside, but with deteriorating weather those still to calve have been housed. This gives greater control over their diet and means less trailing up to the hill to look at them.

The 2018-born autumn calves are also now housed. Again, ground conditions were getting worse and rather than churn up good grass for next year for little to no weight gain, we have brought them in. Until housing, they were getting 1.5kg of barley a day for the last month.

The plan is to sell them at the usual sale at Thainstone in January. Between now and then, they will be increased to around 3kg/head/day of barley and protein blend. The heifers for retaining will be kept to a lower level of barley so as not to have them lay down fat in their udders.

Spring calvers

The spring cows are still out for now. Calf creeps have been put in to help with the transition toward weaning in November. With falling temperatures and squally conditions, the cows are getting silage bales in rings and magnesium syrup in wheel feeders to keep them ticking over and minimise staggers risk.

Judging by ground conditions just now, we will not get much longer at grass.

Forage crop

The neeps are really starting to bulk up now. However, between having to resow them and high flea beetle pressure, yield will be back on last year. As per usual, some will be lifted and some will be grazed off by the ewes pre-lambing.

On the hill, the Swift is also a little behind last year. The soil is shallower in the field and it is also a more exposed site. Once the spring cows have been weaned most of them will go up on to it. Last year, those that were in suitable body condition were chosen to go up. This year, there are a few thinner cows that will go inside straight away, but the rest are quite even in condition, so the plan is to treat them all as one group.

After the Swift is finished, if weather conditions allow, the cows will be kept out for a good bit longer. The runback field is reasonably well sheltered. It also has a hard road to a disused quarry that can be used as a hard standing for feed rings.

While there is a good yield of straw this year and there is a good stockpile, reducing the amount of time the cows are inside is still paramount to us.

The straw saving of the cows outdoors will be around three bales per day of bedding. That is worth around £20/day at current straw costs or £600/month. The cows are also eating a cheaper diet and with the silage being already laid out across the Swift field, less man and machine time is required.

Outwintering also means that there is less muck to handle. Not having to bed the cattle is one saving, however one aspect that is often ignored is the fact that there is no need to either muck out or spread muck afterward. The dung is already in the field, leading to even greater savings in time and machine costs.