FARMER FOCUS: Indian summer a welcome change
The current Indian summer is helping us get in front as we have never had so much grass in the last week of September.
After a wet year and cold spring, I think the weather gods may be on our side for a change. It’s at this time of year I realise how lucky I am to have such a great team of contractors to help us. We try to run with as little kit as possible and let the guys with the big toys do the work. James Bennion, Julian Morgan and Simon Cotton deserve knighthoods in the Queen’s New Year’s contractors honours!
We did our third cut red clover/Italian and fourth cut lucerne this week, both yielded well, and with the sun out we got the wilting bang on before putting it into big square bales. I love the big square bales, but they are heavy and take a bit of handling.
We also harvested maize this week, which was perfect, cobs like iron and the plants were about half dead – which is spot on for us. We got 18.5t/acre, which is brilliant, and it went into the pit really well. My job is packer man as I roll the sides of the pit with my “sensible” sized tractor. Kirsty thinks I am bonkers going backwards and forwards on a tractor that looks like a dinky toy compared with what our contractors use, however my madness means we have virtually no waste on the sides. We used an additive on the maize, as its appears to do a great job in reducing dry matter wastage and improving palatability.
The show season for the Angus has just finished, with some super results for some home-bred females. Georgie was female and breed champion at Monmouth and female champion at Moreton-in-the Marsh, while Gemma won her class at Newbury on her first outing. Both these two come from cow families that have bulls in AI, which is really pleasing and proves you can have high index cattle that show as well. Our daughter Ellie has qualified for the Holstein All-Britain calf show at Stoneleigh next weekend, so by the time you read this we will know her competition fate.
Paul Westaway farms in partnership with his wife Kirsty on a 69ha Gloucester County Council farm, running more than 220 Angus and Holstein Cattle. The pair also run an AI business and have recently launched an online steak and wine shop
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