Weather takes toll on Neil Baker
Who’d be a dairy farmer? Now I don’t want to sound like I’m asking for sympathy as I know there will be plenty of readers in a much worse position than us, but 2012 has driven me towards the extremes of my normally unshakeable positive outlook on most things in life. I really do hope this year is that one-off year.
The weather has taken its toll, not only on our cattle and machinery, but also on the most important part – the team. My staff, job satisfaction and doing a good job are key to keeping the business moving forward.
As I write we are approaching the half-way point of our maize harvest. We’ve managed to find wet spots in fields that we’ve never seen or been stuck in before. Our forager is doing a great job and this harvest is justifying the decision to get a four-wheel drive forager last season. Without it I guess we wouldn’t be doing a lot.
So with extra trailers on because we’re running with half loads, an extra tractor on standby in the field to give our trailers a little push when needed, and a member of the team on constant road-cleaning duty, we have harvested half our normal crop.
Although the maize does look good in the clamp, what with added mud, a good dose of moulds on the standing crop, as well as not fully ripe plants, quality can’t be all that. I can see this maize silage has cost at least twice as much as last year’s crop a tonne.
With maize normally making up more than half our forage, the summer of 2012 will leave far more of an Olympic-sized legacy than we first thought. Without the usual crops being planted this autumn, damage to soil structure and the continued upward pressure on feed costs, combined with other lower-quality forages, this winter is going to be expensive. Let’s hope we can ration our way to keeping fertility high so at least we make it into 2013 with a good chunk of pregnant animals.
Neil Baker manages his family’s dairy farm and cheesemaking business at Haselbury Plucknett, Somerset. His 1,050-cow herd yields 10,200 litres a cow a year, with one-third of milk made into vintage cheddar on farm. Neil is the 2010 Farmers Weekly Dairy Farmer of the Year