Farmer Focus: Haymaking done, but quality is debatable
James Playfair-Hannay © Angus Findlay The past few days have been manic. The winter barley yielded about 8.15t/ha at 13% moisture; not the boldest sample we have ever seen, but there is a large pile of grain that will feed a lot of cattle through the winter. Winter oats are almost ready to go.
We have cut and baled several fields of dead grass that looks and smells like hay – how much nutrition it has is debatable. However, it will feed many mouths and has been easily got.
See also:Â How solar water pumps can extend areas suitable for grazing
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More than 20mm of rain has fallen in the past two days and we hope it might grow some grass, as we are burned off.
The grazing mob has increased in size to more than 110 cows plus their calves. The cows are looking very well: vitamin D obviously has great properties.
We have taken the opportunity to use up some old hay, as we have been carrying feed and water to the cows in certain fields. It’s a chore that we could do without.
The solar panel-powered water pumps are working well and we have increased the pipeline to include another 20ha (50 acres).
As chair of the local Border Union Agricultural Show (BUAS) in Kelso, this past weekend I have not been at home very much. The show was a great success, with the sunny weather contributing to a good audience.
In this locality of low population, we hope to attract some 20,000 people over the two days. We had more than 1,000 equine entries and well over 900 sheep entries (without bluetongue restrictions, these would have topped 1,000).
Sadly, there were only 26 bovine entries (quality rather than quantity), with the leading Salers heifer winning the champion of champions, and a Texel shearling ram in reserve.
Our farm had some entries in the new carcass competition. This was organised by Farm Stock (Scotland) in partnership with AK Stoddart for beef and Woodhead Brothers for lamb.
We had success in the native heifer class and also in the fleece competition.
At the BUAS, we have had several changes over the past six months and the new team have done exceedingly well. Congratulations go to Jac, Zoe, Susan, Emma, Stevie and the rest of the team – fantastic result.