Farmer Focus: The drought has finally ended
© Hugh Nutt I’m pleased to say that the drought (I think it could officially be called a drought) seems to have let up. We’ve had a couple of good rain showers over the past week, allowing us to finally plant the grass seed and oilseed rape.
The prolonged dry weather made harvest a very smooth process. No waiting for the dew to lift, no waiting for uneven crops to ripen – we were able to sail through relatively easily this year.
It was nice not to need the ageing dryer, and crops seemed to come off well with a good amount of straw for the cattle. Our team really pulled together to make it a slick operation.
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Luckily, we managed to stay relatively safe with regard to fire, with only one close shave: some dead grass that we tried to mow, which thankfully was quickly sorted.
However, the risk was very apparent, with rarely a day without smoke in the distance.
Forage crops seemed to have suffered the most. The grass showed particularly poor areas in fields, and the maize remains variable.
The past month has posed an interesting question when looking at cropping, particularly with grass and forage.
As I watched the grass brown off and come close to death, it made me wish I had not dismissed the more drought-tolerant (but lower-yielding) grass varieties like Cocksfoot in my mixes.
The red clover in the silage leys was a very welcome asset when making the most recent cut of silage. In contrast, the single-year Westerwolds rye grass had completely died.
Despite all this, I am going to change very little. Firstly, a long wet spell seems just as likely as a long dry one, and planning for one and not the other is too much of a gamble.
But planting less-palatable, lower-yielding crops does not seem like the answer. Probably a better option is to ensure you have buffer feed available and to ensure grass and soil retain good cover and condition for when the rain does finally come.
