Looking grim .......

[nails]

500 quid to 25k is pissing in the wind for some folks!

Better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick.

 

[beardface]

Better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick.

True, but the government need to wake up and see the gravity of the situation on the ground. This year sees BPS cut to 50% of original payments and the SFI has been capped, while we are going through probably the worst cropping period in a lifetime. Costs are soaring. Beef and lamb prices may be high, but costs keep increasing in line with rising values and many may not have the lambs on the ground due to weather/disease and cattle men are struggling to turn out. Plus on top of that the long range forecast is looking like a big change in the weather. The last thing any crop be it arable or grass needs is a sudden drought. But it's fine they can just cover it all in flowers and import it all. Or can they.....

 

[bobk]

True, but the government need to wake up and see the gravity of the situation on the ground. This year sees BPS cut to 50% of original payments and the SFI has been capped, while we are going through probably the worst cropping period in a lifetime. Costs are soaring. Beef and lamb prices may be high, but costs keep increasing in line with rising values and many may not have the lambs on the ground due to weather/disease and cattle men are struggling to turn out. Plus on top of that the long range forecast is looking like a big change in the weather. The last thing any crop be it arable or grass needs is a sudden drought. But it's fine they can just cover it all in flowers and import it all. Or can they.....

Food security threatened by extreme flooding, farmers warn

Record-breaking rainfall leaves fields under water, threatening this year's harvest yield and quality.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[topground]

Moved a fence for the sucklers tonight in walking boots rather than wellies. A small but important improvement.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Cows out this morn, looking fine approx, 200 in one paddock there looks like it,
phenomenal grass growth where anything has been laid up.
happy days.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Cows out this morn, looking fine approx, 200 in one paddock there looks like it,
phenomenal grass growth where anything has been laid up.
happy days.

Met office have been so far out with their longer term forecast this week, going from a depressing no hope on the 4-5 week horizon to high pressure taking over in 24 hours or so.

Glad for the change anyway

 

[Bury the Trash]

Met office have been so far out with their longer term forecast this week, going from a depressing no hope on the 4-5 week horizon to high pressure taking over in 24 hours or so.

Glad for the change anyway

coming cooler but drier ,typical high pressure this time of year scenario, dry week coming Braine said last night. Met office app tallies with that atm.
Solar thermal heating a good amount of water now in the Sun, the strength is there.
will be good to not have grey skies every day.
If it does dry Sheep will settle and do better . they've had a miserable 7 months .

 

[Two Tone]

Jesus!
Seeing an absolute explosion of Blackgrass now it is drying up.
Especially in the Winter Barley that just refuses to get going.
Then there is the gullies still running with water.

WTF do you do?

 

[ProDrive]

Jesus!
Seeing an absolute explosion of Blackgrass now it is drying up.
Especially in the Winter Barley that just refuses to get going.
Then there is the gullies still running with water.
View attachment 1175632
View attachment 1175633
WTF do you do?

Focus!!!!!

 

[Two Tone]

Focus!!!!!

Just took some more and edited

 

[MrNoo]

Amazed how it’s dried out on top once soil has been moved, grass/flowers drilled and even had the rolls out, even saw dust. Yet other fields I can’t even disc as still too wet.

 

[steveR]

Met office have been so far out with their longer term forecast this week, going from a depressing no hope on the 4-5 week horizon to high pressure taking over in 24 hours or so.

Glad for the change anyway

And it'll probably change again.....

 

[Bury the Trash]

 

[DaveGrohl]

Moved a fence for the sucklers tonight in walking boots rather than wellies. A small but important improvement.

Show off.

 

[Two Tone]

Anybody else finding that crops that have struggled to survive so far are just not moving, despite the lovely weather?

It’s like they have been ‘Bonsaid’!
They absolutely refuse to move and the drier soil surface makes them look even worse, not better.


I went to put some fertiliser on some grass fields today and had to abandon 2 because they are still like a bog.
Some of the grass hasn’t faired any better than the crop. It looks more like it would in a very wet and cold January.

Where my farmed deer have been grazing it, despite some poaching the grass is actually in better condition.

 

[4course]

Anybody else finding that crops that have struggled to survive so far are just not moving, despite the lovely weather?

It’s like they have been ‘Bonsaid’!
They absolutely refuse to move and the drier soil surface makes them look even worse, not better.


I went to put some fertiliser on some grass fields today and had to abandon 2 because they are still like a bog.
Some of the grass hasn’t faired any better than the crop. It looks more like it would in a very wet and cold January.

Where my farmed deer have been grazing it, despite some poaching the grass is actually in better condition.

rightly or wrongly those bits similar here have had an extra bag this last couple of days , to be fair any cereals sown prior to oct 10th look ok not brilliant but as good if not better than average however anything sown after is not so good or has been or will be knocked up and resown . Beans sown thursday are already swelling and if split can see the first signs of life and sp barley has germinated and showing roots sown last weekend so getting there but as we all know its been a torrid time however sown another field today and now 48hours without rain will see us done re combinables to be just left with some grass still to sow which means things arnt as grim as they where when this thread opened .

 

[Bury the Trash]

I can only presume no one has been or going since mid jan by the dearth of posts since but having finished putting the fert on more or less everywhere this last couple of days this morning and no chance of resowing any wet bits can set off tommorrow with a clear conscience. A few days in westendorf kitz soll area then round to my favorite saalbach . Been looking forward to our annual trip and never have i wanted a change of scene as much ,ive oft said the beauty about skiing is you cant think about work when hurtling (figuritavily speaking ) down a mountain,ho ho

rightly or wrongly those bits similar here have had an extra bag this last couple of days , to be fair any cereals sown prior to oct 10th look ok not brilliant but as good if not better than average however anything sown after is not so good or has been or will be knocked up and resown . Beans sown thursday are already swelling and if split can see the first signs of life and sp barley has germinated and showing roots sown last weekend so getting there but as we all know its been a torrid time however sown another field today and now 48hours without rain will see us done re combinables to be just left with some grass still to sow which means things arnt as grim as they where when this thread opened .

how can it be grim if you can afford to / go off skiing, ? i guess its all relative

 

[Two Tone]

rightly or wrongly those bits similar here have had an extra bag this last couple of days , to be fair any cereals sown prior to oct 10th look ok not brilliant but as good if not better than average however anything sown after is not so good or has been or will be knocked up and resown . Beans sown thursday are already swelling and if split can see the first signs of life and sp barley has germinated and showing roots sown last weekend so getting there but as we all know its been a torrid time however sown another field today and now 48hours without rain will see us done re combinables to be just left with some grass still to sow which means things arnt as grim as they where when this thread opened .

Blimey!
I wish things here could be less grim! It’s getting worse, not better.
It’s like putting any Nitrogen fertiliser on makes it go backwards, not forwards.

All of my cereal fields were drilled by Oct 9th. All bar 4, by the end of September.
The problem is so much rain both prior to and particularly post-drilling that it has constantly had wet feet.

The Winter Beans were drilled about 20th Oct and apart from 3 cereal fields look the best crops on the farm.
However, the last 50 odd acres couldn’t get planted and I was hoping to plant them by the end of March.
No such luck.
So have decided that as patching in any cereals on the failed areas is a waste of time, to plant that last 50 acres with Spring Barley, just so as to provide us with some straw.

Feck knows if it will be any good.


I’m getting thoroughly pee'd off with the whole job. Nothing seems to go right.
It actually upsets me to get reaction scores.

I know it‘s not my fault, there are others who DD’d in this area with equally bad crops.
It is this unbelievable weather that is the cause.
But we cannot help blaming ourselves and wondering what we did wrong.
Especially when it is not your farm, you are managing it for somebody else. Who unfortunately has just taken over from is deceased father during the worst ever weather-time in farming I have ever known.

The only consultation is that our increased CS and SFI income will cushion the financial situation.
As long as we don’t get an inspection, because my God have they suffered too!

 

[4course]

how can it be grim if you can afford to / go off skiing, ? i guess its all relative

work life family balance is far more important than a sh!t year out of 40 or more

 

[HarryB97]

Anybody else finding that crops that have struggled to survive so far are just not moving, despite the lovely weather?

It’s like they have been ‘Bonsaid’!
They absolutely refuse to move and the drier soil surface makes them look even worse, not better.


I went to put some fertiliser on some grass fields today and had to abandon 2 because they are still like a bog.
Some of the grass hasn’t faired any better than the crop. It looks more like it would in a very wet and cold January.

Where my farmed deer have been grazing it, despite some poaching the grass is actually in better condition.

Generally growing fairly well here. Wheat after grass is knee high, wheat after oats not too far behind and triticale also knee high. Lucerne is also pushing knee high, surprising given the year!