She's turned into a lovely wet drought. 
Drought 2023!
- Thread starter jerseycowsman
- Start date
- Location
- God's side of the border.
We have a delay until October I think. To give time to apply for a derogation, which for a dairy farmer is virtually impossible to obtain as we can't meet requirements.
Can’t beat farming with one hand tied behind your back!
The main problem I see is the affect the 170kg/ha has on the stocking rate, with hard bands for milk yield. Sub 6k stock at 2.2 LSU , which for the vast majority of farms is where they’d be, 6-9k, 1.7 LSU/ha, 9k+, 1.4 LSU/ha. Why it’s not a gradual approach I don’t know, at our discussion group, the consensus was you need to be at the top of the yield band to avoid the discrimination.
Don’t know what this has to do with the drought, mind you!
- Location
- God's side of the border.
I just pass on what little knowledge I have when a comment calls for it.
- Location
- cornwall
Well,50mm yesterday, grass is motoring again, I can actually get some days off from doing bloody yard work again as they are going back out full time tomorrow, hooray!
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Spencer
Member
- Location
- North West
Uncross them now
Only 5mm of July being the wettest month of the year here…. Winter barley is all fit to cut 
Farmer Keith
Member
- Location
- North Cumbria
Is this still even a thread? We’ve had over 250mm in the past 25 days here, never ceases to amaze how quickly it changes, we were feeding silage and growth was in single figures, grew 86 last week which feels like a record for July although I’ve not checked, growing a huge surplus and half the cows are dry now so will be making a lot of second cut.
- Location
- Middle of nowhere, Pembrokeshire
No surplus here yet, r2s have today gone back to just grazing, the cows will be buffered with silage for at least another week.
- Location
- somerset
nice drop of rain, things are greening up nicely, cows are grazing 'spring' grass, milk is staying up, when really it should be dropping, started drying off, a new definition of marginal litres !
but the drought is not over, ground aquifers etc have not had enough rain to replenish themselves, unless we have way above av rainfall, for the rest of the year, we will go into next year, in a deficit situation.
With the variation of UK weather, anything could happen.
but the drought is not over, ground aquifers etc have not had enough rain to replenish themselves, unless we have way above av rainfall, for the rest of the year, we will go into next year, in a deficit situation.
With the variation of UK weather, anything could happen.
Ducati899
Member
- Location
- north dorset
We’ve never made as much silage/hay as we have this year,just need the maize to come to a decent crop and it’ll all be good here.
Wow we had half that in Devon
- Location
- somerset
and that's a problem, rain is tending to come in 'heavy' downpours, a big % of which just runs off, reducing its effect.
We had a massive downpour, flooded houses, huge amount of damage, yet 24 hours, streams were back to normal, only signs left, flooded houses, soil slips and rubbish in hedges and mud in fields, where streams/rivers had burst their banks, our stream expanded from dry, to 30 metres wide, and stopped running again in 48 hours.
Dry cows happy.
TheRanger
Member
- Location
- SW Scotland
More rain in July now than April, May and June combined. Not fun anymore.
- Location
- somerset
that looks like mid winter. Clearing up pretty well.
years ago, used to keep the milkers out on kale till xmas, if it was really wet, used to cut it by hand, and chuck it off a trailer, in a grass field.
thankfully those days are long long gone. But the idea of outwintering cattle on brassica's has been renewed, and we do it, find it ironic to think back, and remember how thankful/grateful we were when we could house cattle over winter.
years ago, used to keep the milkers out on kale till xmas, if it was really wet, used to cut it by hand, and chuck it off a trailer, in a grass field.
thankfully those days are long long gone. But the idea of outwintering cattle on brassica's has been renewed, and we do it, find it ironic to think back, and remember how thankful/grateful we were when we could house cattle over winter.
Have not got round to Bury the pipe yet. Turnips/mud by day, some grass by night
Farmer Keith
Member
- Location
- North Cumbria
168mm in the past 8 days here