Jim Logan discusses the need to plan for dry summers

In Scotland, our South-East corner has, I think, suffered the most, especially on grassland farms and those cropping on lighter or later land. This, however, seems to pale into insignificance, compared to the much wider spread and more severe drought conditions south of the border. The recent rain, albeit not of biblical quantities, has at least turned our pastures back to a disappointing shade of green, rather than a 'desert brown' where the only occasional splash of green came from our numerous dockens and dandelions. Perhaps there is a lesson/answer staring us in the face right there. Deeper rooted 'weeds' and certain sown species like red clover and plantain have fared markedly better and have continued to offer a reasonable bulk through the very driest of the season.

Without doubt 2026 has proven to be one of the most challenging as far as pasture management is concerned. The challenges have come thick and fast, compounding all the time. From incredibly wet just following turnout, to explosive (almost uncontrollable) growth when it did finally warm up. We then moved straight onto a rapid reduction in pasture quality, soil moisture and pasture growth, until very recently. It has however been a real learning curve and has reinforced many thoughts that had been sown over the previous few dryer than average summers.

Thankfully for most, the explosive growth in mid-May to mid-June, ensured decent first cuts of silage and heavy hay crops to make when the time came. Unfortunately, regrowth, second cuts and aftermaths haven’t been quite so chirpy! With this being the fifth challenging summer since 2018, I think it’s fair to say that we should be treating them as far from abnormal and be better prepared within our farming systems to cope. The old saying, 'hay in the shed is like money in the bank' has never rung so true, and perhaps we should all be making more fodder in the years of plenty, rather than be dissuaded by the number crunchers because of the 'unnecessary cost'. I know that without a bit of carryover from the last two years, we ourselves would have been eating into slightly scarce winter rations when buffer feeding to extend rotations this summer.

We made the decision to buffer feed our calved heifers at home fairly early, with them eating over two thirds of their diet as silage and a little concentrate for the last month or more. The idea was to leave grass cover over a larger area for as long as possible, protecting the soil from the extreme heat and conserving as much soil moisture as possible. The hope was that grass growth would recover much faster when the rain did eventually come, perhaps saving feed in the long run.

Yearling steers were also housed at the beginning of last week in a bid to conserve grass for those calved heifers and hopefully regain some of their lost performance over the summer. The combination of low grass quality earlier in the season and shortage of grass full stop more lately has seen daily gains of only just over half of we would normally expect!

Our organic flock of ewes south of the border have had to endure similar hardship, with 3000 head of ewes and lambs eating expensive hay for over a month also. Lambs have been weaned early, and ewes batched and fed according to condition score to further prioritise the little grass that there has been. Despite the lack of grass, lambs weaned 10 days earlier than normal at a very respectable 33kg average, proving again just how well sheep can perform in dry conditions. With us keen not to sell in a store market that has come under a bit of pressure, grazing has been found for some of the wether lambs in Cumbria where they are making up for lost time. The easing of environmental / stewardship rules announced early this week will hopefully allow us to find further grazing and give us the flexibility we want regarding marketing.

Other holdings have fared better through the dry weather, being both on heavier land and with a slightly lighter stocking rate. Unfortunately, organic and bluetongue restrictions concerning cross-border movements have meant we haven’t been able to capitalise on this extra available feed. Leaving higher grazing residuals with our cows has again helped retain moisture, protect the soil and hopefully future grass growth. We hope the cows will make a good enough job of cleaning up the untidy, headed grass on the later rotations of the grazing season.

Bulls were all turned out in the last week of July, with a group of 20 synchronised to be used as recipients for another round of embryo transfer work. We’ve majored on Hereford embryos this time having had a very successful flush from a terrific cow which we leased for the purpose from a fellow breeder. Maiden pedigree Hereford heifers were also synchronised for AI to let us introduce another bull that we like the look of. On a more social note, we are looking forward to hosting the Border Angus Club and friends this weekend for a look around our cattle enterprise. Fingers crossed for a dry day!

Late August sees our attention shift to tup sales and the welcoming of buyers, old and new, to come to the farm and select their purchases for the year. Timing the start of our social media-based advertising campaign is always well 'discussed', with our grass-fed rams having to start looking at their very best to be able to compete at all with the countless pictures of the top, conventionally produced show and sale animals from other vendors.   Thankfully, having had their grazing prioritised a bit on some of the heavier land that we have available, they are really pleasing us this time. With over 130 Suffolk, Texel and RomTex shearling rams to sell, it can be time consuming, but the individual appointments really give us a chance to really get to know our customers and properly understand, and at times guide them on their sire selections. Our business is built on relationships and trust in our breeding policy and production system. This is the fifteenth year that we have sold them this way. The withdrawal of feed, dressing and the sale ring from the process seemed a huge leap of faith, for both us and our buyers, all those years ago, but I can honestly say I’ve never once regretted it; and the sheep certainly haven’t!