Clyde Jones’ cows have been on the rampage

This month we welcomed on board one Tom and said goodbye to the previous Tom, who departed for a harvesting job up north, saving duplication and complication. Also departing was the legendary Mark who will no doubt be employee of the month shortly with another Farmer Focus contributor, Tom Rawson .

Having decided I could withstand the suspense no longer as to whether it would rain or not I packed myself off for an Italian holiday. On my return, I was faced with a full rain gauge and seriously green fields showing some decent rain had fallen. In fact, as we all know, this is the most difficult moment as the dry matter in the grass reduces, so the average cover and the growth go down before there is an increase and the cows don’t graze so well.

The paddocks have since rallied round, the average now 2,279kg/ha DM and growth a fantastic 113kg/ha DM resulting in some really tasty looking leys on the farm. This will help us build our covers.

The cows have been on the rampage recently taking to chewing rocks, stones and rope, etc. We have done blood tests and no diagnosis is offered as yet, and yes they are fully fed.

We have been hit by the yellow curse, Ragwort. This tenacious plant is still at large despite spraying, so we will be back to rogueing and topping on the worst areas. The good news is there have been sightings of the Cinnabar moth so a natural biological method of controlling ragwort could be at hand, just don’t hold your breathe.

Farmer Focus Livestock: Clyde Jones