This photo shows the result of what happens when you have a heat wave and no rain of any consequence for over two months. Unlike farmers in the eastern counties whose fields seem to have turned to a golden /grey coloured dried dust bowl, our fields have fared a lot better. The price was still paid and we basically had little or no grass growth over the drought period.

This is what our second cut of the year looks like. If you compare with the image below, which was taken during the first cut in June, so can see the difference.

We went away the weekend the farmer bailed what he cut, but he did say afterwards that our contribution was about a bale an acre. Our yield in June this year was over 5 times that!

The problem the farmers have had this year is that they have had to feed their stock over the Summer, with grass that they were planning to give them over this coming winter. If yields are down and demand up, that’s inevitably going to drive feed costs up later down the line.