We had a wonderful time in the UK, but it was good to come home and find everything shipshape.

An incredibly mild winter to date with very little rainfall has left fields in good order after the dairy cows. It could have been a different story had it been wet and I know we have been very fortunate.

With land now becoming available after the cows and store lambs, we are flat out ploughing for early-sown spring wheat and barley. I find ploughing helps to destroy any remaining brassica root-stock, which tends to re-establish itself and create problems further down the track.

As the US struggles to contain its monetary woes, the high value of the New Zealand dollar versus the green back is doing little to help our exports. What looked like being a bumper season on the lamb trading front may not now happen. Meat companies will use the high dollar as an excuse to reduce the winter schedule pricing structure as they have done countless times before. The only thing that may help offset this is an acute shortage of winter lambs.

The hearing with regard to our water allocation being granted was postponed while we were in England due to a small piece of vital evidence not being available. However, I am assured by our consultant that it will be granted and the forthcoming meeting is merely a formality. I hope so because he’s already sent me his invoice.

As the Rugby World Cup approaches, Cantabrians are saddened to hear that no game will be played in the Christchurch stadium, which now faces almost certain demolition following the February earthquake. But if the All Blacks play as well as they did against the Wallabies in a recent Tri-Nations match, we could be champions.

arable farmer focus: Bill Davey