THE drilling of the cereal crops has now finished and Ian has been walking the fields to make sure that the drilled seed is emerging.

The warm weather we have been experiencing recently of around 22⁰C does make the seed germinate and emerge more quickly.

Hopefully the hot weather in the summer has reduced the number of slug eggs this autumn, although more attention will need to be paid to the fields where oil seed rape has been grown as there tends to be more of a slug problem due to crop residues left behind.

Pre-emergence herbicides are now being applied to the drilled crops to suppress weeds, which can be competitive and reduce growth of the cereal crop. Weeds can also harbour diseases and provide cover for pests such as slugs. Farmers must have a licence to legally spray agrochemicals and apply slug pellets. This licence is maintained through continuous training courses.

To ensure the spraying equipment is operating correctly and safely, Ian and Kevin have been carrying out checks to the machines and making sure the nozzles which release the sprays are in good working order.

Kevin put his pre-emergence spray straight on the wheat after drilling as it was decided that these fields had enough moisture to ensure that the spray works. Ian has held off spraying his wheat and barley as these fields were deemed not to have enough moisture in the soil. Hopefully he will apply the spray next week after a modest amount of rainfall and when the wind dies down as it is important to spray on a very still day so as not to waste the product and ensure that it does not drift.

The year-old heifers have received their second vaccination against leptospirosis. The calves born early this autumn are approaching weaning at ten weeks. They will be weaned off gradually if they are fit, healthy and are eating at least 2kg of hard feed a day. They can then be slowly transitioned onto forage. Ian has also been doing some routine foot trimming and drying off. This group of cows are called the ‘far-off’ group and are approximately 60 days from calving.

Another group of cows were sorted in to the ‘close-up’ group. These cows are approximately three weeks away from calving and are given a feed ration which prepares them for the transition between calving and early lactation.

Most of the heifers (this is their first calf) have now calved of which most of these calves were from artificial insemination (AI). If the heifers did not become pregnant by AI they were served by our Angus bull who was purchased last year and so we are starting to see his calves coming through. Half of the cows have also calved and we now have about 40 cows left to calve.

Our nutritionist has been taking maize samples to analyse energy, protein, dry matter and fibre. This enables us to formulate a more accurate feed ration based on the nutritional needs of the cows and her milk yield.

Alongside an analysis of our other forages we can then incorporate the maize into our total mixed ration (TMR). Forage analysis occurs on a regular basis to ensure the cows are always getting the optimum nutrition as the forage nutrient content can change throughout the year.

Finally, on the sheep side, the rams have now all been put out with the ewes and will stay with the ewes for 42 days, which should cover two oestrus cycles. This hopefully will ensure lambing will start at the beginning of March.