Farmer Focus: Second cut harvests bumper yields

Mid-July is always the most stressful time of year on our farm in sunny Dymock as we have the challenge of our annual TB test.

Kirsty and I have invested a lot of time, love and cash in developing our herd of Angus cattle, and are doing as much as we can to get our health status as high as we can.

However, we can’t do anything to control TB, so our annual test is just an awful week. We have been clear here for years, but we live in the west of England, so I am always worried and apparently turn from a nice guy to a miserable, snarling **** as the test week goes on.

See also: Read more from our other livestock farmer focus writers

I am delighted we had a clear test and according to Mrs W I am now once again “bearable” to live with.

Just to ramp up the stress levels, we decided to do our second cut of silage during TB test week as well. This went without a hitch, with mammoth crops of red clover, Italian ryegrass and lucerne, and probably our best ever second-cut grass yields. It came in beautifully (my contractor’s space-age forager said it was 28% DM) and now the pit is very full, which is a great problem.

I think we will make some big-bale haylage and put these bales around the edge of the pit so we can fit the maize in.

I am fast becoming a Westerwold convert. We did our second cut of this three weeks ago, and the stuff is already higher than my wellies, so the third cut will get done before the end of July. I don’t know how long the leys will last, but it’s a great source of quality bulk forage.

My maize is also causing a stir as it is more than 2m tall, with my agronomy team taking lots of pics to impress their mates.

I have been lucky to do a lot of media work during the past few weeks, chatting about the future of British beef and in particular the importance of the work Eblex is doing to grow exports. I remain hugely positive about the future of our industry.

While I accept the current prices are helping no one, we must as an industry stay positive. My only disappointment is that in all the TV we have done, they keep using clips of our bull Gareth standing in a patch of docks. I need to talk to him about his media training.

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.