WE have had another hot and sunny week, although a torrential storm accompanied by one clap of thunder deposited a staggering 17mm rain in about 10 minutes on the last day of the week.

This was the first measurable rainfall for over a month and within a few hours it looked as if the event had never happened. The rain has made no difference to the wide, deep cracks that have appeared in our fields.

However, it may help some of our grass fields to show a hint of green. The line being drawn on the barograph continues to show a constant air pressure, even when the the recent storm built overhead.

There has been a great deal going on during the last week. The hot, dry weather has affected our crops of winter barley and wheat, which needed a little more moisture to swell and ripen the grain, but as this did not happen Ian and Richard decided that it was time to get the combine harvester working again and gather the barley before it had a chance to deteriorate further.

The combine was brought out of a large barn, where it had been stored over the winter.

Fortunately it started easily, but it soon became obvious that some mice had chewed through some electric wires needed to control a number of things on the reel. The header cuts the standing crop and feeds it into the belly of the combine. It was the sensors controlling the cut height, also the mechanism that alters the position of the reel. The wires were soon replaced and the combine was ready to roll.

We now only grow 47 acres of winter barley, so it did not take long to gather the grain. All the barley was sold before harvest at an agreed price, which was £40 more than last year.

Once the grain had been collected from the combine the trailer loads were taken straight to a local storage facility by Ian and student Harry, who is working for us this summer. This year with such persistent hot weather the moisture content of the grain was 11 per cent to 12 per cent, well within the maximum to avoid deductions for drying.

The bushel weight (weight or mass based on dry capacity) of the grain however was not expected to be as good as last year, but although one load weighing about 10 tonnes was just below the minimum required, it was not as bad as we expected. The bushel weight of barley has to be above 63 kg/hectolitre and one load of about 10 tonnes was below the limit by 0.5 kg/hl, so a deduction of £1.50 per tonne was applied to the agreed sale price on that load. Last year the bushel weight was over 70 kg/ hl, which indicated this year's grain was a lower quality. The yield was also lower at 2.5 tonnes per acre as opposed to three tonnes per acre last year, so the late cold spring and prolonged period of hot, dry weather has had a substantial affect on the crop.

Once the grain had been gathered it was not long before our contractor arrived to bale the straw into large square bales. Although the quality of the straw was good the crop was quite light compared with previous years. The bales have been collected and stored in a large stack near the farm buildings for use during the winter. following collection of the straw Harry has been spreading slurry from our slurry store on to the remaining stubble.

We have recently started drying our milking cows off for their annual holiday. Once a cow has given birth she is milked for about 305 days, which is called her lactation. At the end of this time her milk yield will have naturally reduced following a peak six weeks after calving. When the time arrives for drying off the cow her milk yield will be encouraged to fall even more by milking her less frequently, also reducing the amount of nutrients in her diet. Once satisfied that she is ready for her dry period to begin she is turned out into a field where she will spend a well-earned holiday before giving birth once again.

We have just wormed and turned out our youngest group of Angus x calves, now settled well in their new environment.