Iain Green is making hay while the sun shines
Finally, we have had some sunshine which has allowed us to make hay. It is the worst crop to get right, but thankfully it was cut on the Monday, baled on the Thursday and finished on the Friday with only the last field getting a few showers of rain.
Winter barley harvest has been completed with good yields of both barley and straw. Unfortunately, due to the lack of summer sunshine the bushel weight was only 61kg/hl – the bonus was it came off the combine at 14.7% moisture.
Autumn-calving cows are on bare grass fields just receiving straw and minerals, hopefully this will keep them in ideal condition for calving.
We have had a busy, but successful show season this year with six of our local shows being held over two weeks. This included the Scottish National Simmental Show held this year at Perth, where we won reserve Simmental champion with a young heifer, junior champion with a young bull and won the pairs championship with this pair going on to win the overall interbreed pairs competition.
Lambs are slowly finishing and are going off every second week to our local abattoir. Thankfully the price is good and so far this season they have averaged £79.80 clear.
This price makes the pig price look even worse when you consider the huge feed costs involved in getting pigs finished. I fear several producers will exit the industry, I just hope we do not lose critical mass.
Iain Green farms 1,110ha (2,740 acres) as a family partnership. Stock includes 130 pedigree Simmentals, 330 Simmental-crosses, plus followers, 500 Highland Mule ewes and 340 sows. The partnership also runs a large haulage business
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