Farmer Focus: Trying my hardest to stay positive

I am by nature an optimistic person, but this spring is starting to get even me down.

We have about 80ha (198 acres) to plough and drill this spring, and none of the machinery has even left the shed yet.

In other years, we’d have finished drilling the maize by now.

While I’m sure it will come good again, it compresses our schedule into an ever-decreasing work window.

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About the author

Tom Stable

Tom Stable and family, Ulverston, Cumbria, milk 350 Holsteins three times a day, producing milk for Arla and ice cream for their Cumbrian Cow brand. The 300ha operation, of which two thirds is rented, grows grass, maize and winter wheat and cows average 11,800 litres.

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We did manage to get one job out of the way: emptying the slurry pit and digging out the sand. It was a very late night/early morning and a tremendous effort from the team.

Unsurprisingly, it’s much easier to convince everyone to work late in spring than it is in the autumn, when people have had enough.

The team effort was much appreciated, and it should make for easier slurry management this summer.

The cows are performing really well. Their production since the turn of the year is the equivalent of 12,170kg a cow in herd a year.

The only fly in the ointment is the lack of butterfat, but I don’t suppose you can have everything.

We’ve added C16 fatty acid but with surprisingly little effect; next on the list is increasing dietary fibre.

Arla has adjusted its seasonality payment because the old scheme appeared to have very little effect on the spring flush.

Unfortunately, our jump in performance means we are going to get a 50% milk price reduction on about 20% of our milk, which will take a bit of swallowing.

So long as milk quantity holds up, we will get this all back in the autumn, but that seems a fair way off right now.

The seasonality has resulted in us selling fresh-calved cattle again for the first time in several years.

Despite there being closer auctions, we have marketed all cattle through Bentham for a few years, be it calves, stores or fresh heifers.

They always provide a top-quality and friendly service whatever you have to sell, and the café takes some beating.

We’ve sold 10 so far – a mixture of heifers and second-calved cows – to an average of £2,113, which we were pleased with, given the current uncertainty surrounding dairy.