On the farm we are busy making hay and Jon our son is using his machinery on the neighbours farm to make silage. Grass quality will not be great in the conserved crops as ideally it should have been cut in the leafy stage. This year there are a lot of seed heads and the bottom of the crop is all brown where the grass has deteriorated from too much wet weather.
The high fibre content of the harvested crop will lead to poorer animal performance, so less milk from lactating animals and less weight gain for growing animals. In an ideal world our crops would have been harvested in mid June. We farm on clay soils and travelling with harvesting machinery was not possible until this weekend without damage to the grassland.
We have been able to continue with some fencing at Holt Farm using a tracked machine and ageing human muscle to carry materials and equipment. The project has to be completed by the end of September so hopefully the weather will be more settled. Dry conditions under foot and over head make the work environment much safer especially on the steep slopes where we are erecting the fences.
