As we pass from one year to another, we carry with us the legacy of 2012, while stepping into the unknown territory of 2013. What will it bring in terms of weather, cow performance, feed and milk prices? No one knows.
Last year offered a mixture of good and bad, things we are thankful for and things we could live without. The abundance of rain has been fairly well documented (sometimes it’s understandable that we Brits talk about the weather so much), and has left us going into the new year with a very full slurry pit. There are plenty of other after-effects of our rather damp year, we haven’t been able to get in as much winter wheat as we had hoped, so that land will probably be rolled into maize production instead. We’re currently trying out a min-till disc and subsoiler combination for wheat establishment, with a view to using it for the maize as well. We shall see whether it will successfully bury muck, and work across our range of soil types.
We can only work from where we’re at, and sometimes that’s a struggle, but it’s never all bad. We mustn’t forget that we go into this new year with a respectable milk price, especially considering what might have been. The result of the coming together of farmers across different organisations to stand up and make a difference. This is certainly something to be thankful for.
There are also more personal successes from 2012 that we look forward to reaping the benefits of, poor silage this year has led to lower conception rates but in spite of this we have managed to get more cows in calf, partly due to having a few more cows eligible for serving and partly due to improved submission rates.
The end of serving in time for Christmas has given us a chance to pause and to reflect. We’ve noticed the first shoots of late drilled winter wheat coming through, and we see in them the hopeful beginnings of the next season. Soon our smaller calving block will be upon us (those cows which didn’t get in calf last autumn), and time for reflection will be scarce once again. But if in all this we remember the positives we carry with us, and if our aim is always consistent, steady improvement, then all things considered, things can only get better.