Sunshine was a real tonic in this busy time on the farm
What lovely weather we had earlier this month, with glorious sunshine with spring showers to freshen it all up - just what we ordered, writes David Morgan.
Calving is nearly finished and we have a calf for every cow. We have managed to sell a few breeding heifers and looking for buyers for more. We are also planning to sell some South Devon fourth calver cows with calves at foot, some good meaty cows which don't fit into our system, but will suit returning to the bull.
We are getting around our dilemma regarding changing the stock bull by using artificial insemination on his daughters which are coming into the herd this year. This will enable us to get one extra year's use out of him and use superior genetics on our heifers. He will be for sale in the autumn.
My call to fellow beef producers is to use livestock markets all the time, not just when the slaughterhouses start being difficult to deal with. The beef price has continued to fall and so farmers who normally sell their cattle deadweight are dumping them into the livestock markets. The buyers love this as it drives the beef price down even faster.
We have 15 stabiliser bulls coming ready to go, and while other years we've sold them four or five each week, this time we will take two or three each week so that if the market is overloaded by deadweight sellers we will not get hurt too badly.
Lambs are growing well, though finding them among the grass is challenging. I am looking forward to my new sheep race and electronic scales being delivered so that I can run them all through to check their weights. That will start to show whether the Suftex ram was worth the pennies.
Will we have finished lambs earlier than we had last year? The first single lambs sold on June 10 2013. I suspect that we should be earlier this time. Creep feeders are being filled this week so that we can be sure to finish the lambs before tupping time, though if this grass continues to grow perhaps it will not be needed.
On the arable side, the wheat is looking clean though the volunteer oats have made their mark. Flag leaf fungicide spray is about to be applied, after which I hope not to be spending any more money on it. This rain and sunshine should be filling the winter barley grains, but I'm just a little concerned it doesn't knock any down. The spring barley looks great, but it desperately needs more nitrogen applying; I am awaiting a delivery which will be applied the day it arrives.
Well that is all for this month, other than to say that Kim and Oscar have been helping me to advertise some of our used machinery on the old farm shop website. What a good idea.
By David Morgan, of Strefford Hall Farm, Craven Arms
