COLUMN: The September sun means every combine north of Inverness is out in force
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From the Farm by Victoria Ballantyne
I SIT here writing this on the hottest day since June. My weather station tells me it is 24.5C and ‘feels like’ 30C!
Who would have thought the best month of the year to make hay would be September? But that’s what we are spending this week doing. Anyone growing barley, who up until now has had a frustrating stop-start harvest, is also pedal to the metal, with every combine north of Inverness out in force.
Perhaps this is a good time to remind drivers that, although the slow movement of harvest machinery can be frustrating, food does not magic itself from the field to the supermarket and farmers are not out there simply because they like holding up traffic. Having seen a car try to overtake a left turning tractor on the inside today, as the tractor driver moved into the middle of the road to give himself turning space, it is important to remember – better late than never.
Fortunately this weather comes on the back of a mild and wet August and we find ourselves with plenty grass. We usually try to get most of the weaned ewes off farm to rough grazing elsewhere, but having sold the yearling cattle in July, there is enough to keep them at home this year. They are doing a job as a grazing group, clearing up behind the cows and calves.
We have sold most of the lambs, with just our replacement ewe lambs and the smallest 100 still here. Being in a smaller mob will reduce the competition with bigger lambs and they are getting high-quality grazing with the intention of growing them as much as we can over the next few months. Lamb prices have held up this year, which is quite a relief given the drop in international markets, though my friends in Australia and New Zealand have noted that, unsurprisingly, the supermarket shelf price does not reflect this.
The cows have had their time with the bull, this year we took them out after just over seven weeks. The UK average length of bulling is around 14 weeks, so we are at the shorter end. It does come with some risk, particularly as one bull went lame in the first week. We try to reduce this risk by having two bulls and selecting for fertile cows. The short time frame is self-selecting as any cow not in calf will be sold. Because we start calving a bit later than most, it is important calving doesn’t run on into the summer as it means both extra work at an already busy time and weaning calves younger than would we like. It also becomes tiresome getting up early for months on end to check on calving cows. We will be hoping that 90% plus are in calf when we scan in November.
Personally, I feel as though I’m only just recovering from a pretty hectic July. My tendency to overcommit and inability to say no left me struggling a bit with a seemingly endless list of jobs I was never getting around to. I have managed to get on top of some of these, but still have a looming deadline for my Nuffield Scholarship report and presentation.
Rather than letting these things stress me, I try to remember that none of these things is that important and in five years time I won’t even remember them. Also at the back of my mind is the saying ‘no one ever lay on their death bed and wished they’d worked more’. So with that in mind I’m looking forward to a trip to France to support Scotland and Australia in the rugby world cup.
Victoria and Jason Ballantyne run Clynelish Farm, Brora.
