Miles Saunders
Miles Saunders
Miles Saunders has been
farming organically since
1989. Main enterprises on
his 370ha (915 acre) Oxon
farm are 250 milking cows
and followers, 80 beef cattle
and 200 Mule ewes. Wheat
and beans are also grown
THE implications of a repeat of the last two autumns weather are constantly on my mind. A recent dilemma was when to mow the remainder of third cut silage. Last year, rain began in mid-September and didnt stop.
I watched weather forecasts like a hawk and there seemed to be a window of opportunity a fortnight ago. Mowers started on Sept 16 with the sun shining and cut headland before rain began. The following day was dry so the remainder of fields were cut ready for pick-up the next day. As I write, it is raining and I am concerned about quality as the sward is 80% red clover and dry matter will be very low.
I have been trying to move store lambs on a long distance licence to Cambs for the last month. As Cambs is in a clean area and we are provisionally free, movements had not been able to take place. But Oxon has now been declared free, so I rang DEFRA to find out whether there were any changes. They decided not to issue any movement licences that week, leaving them for the local authority to do the following week.
Cows are calving well this season, with few assisted births. Out of 70 calvings, there has only been one milk fever case and cows are discharging placentas cleanly after calving, with the exception of a couple that had twins.
Calved cows are buffer fed after morning milking. The ration includes grass silage, wheat whole- crop, organic beans, organic wheat, organic soya and brewers grains. Along with grazed grass, this produces average daily yields of 30 litres. Milk protein is good at 3.5%, but butterfat is struggling at 3.7%.
I have had some concrete grooving done around cow yards. It should be money well spent, as a casualty cow following a fall would be expensive. It will also give cows greater confidence when moving around yards.
I also have a block of land half a mile up the road, which is in serious need of refencing. This will allow me to put dry stock there without having to worry about electric fencing. Using contractors will mean fencing can be done when weather conditions are favourable. *