Drought proofing dairy - harvest decisions, feed extension & management strategies

Hello everyone, it's Thursday the 13th of August and welcome to episode 306 of the Kite Podcast with me Will Evans and me Ben Eagle. Now on what is expected to be the hottest day in August so far this month in some parts of the country, we're talking about feed and forage in the context of the dry conditions. How do you devise a strategy at the moment and what might all this mean for a longer term feed strategy if we see this kind of year becoming more of the norm? We'll also be discussing the potential for an autumn cut and prospects for maize harvest. We're joined by Becky Hewlett who is a technical consultant at Kite and Jake Sims who farms in Dorset. Also with us is podcast producer Becky Ray. Everybody's favourite dairy market analyst Chris Walkland is away this week but he has sent us this market report. Well I'm bringing you my report from Down Under today because we're in the middle of August and New Zealand's season is now ramping up. September, just two weeks away, is its fourth highest production month. October is the largest and November and December the second and third largest. So a new dynamic is entering the market and unlike in the northern hemisphere there is absolutely no drought there at all. In fact, there is no drought at all in the northern hemisphere. There is absolutely no drought at all. In fact, the soil moisture deficit chart shows some tiny issues in North and South Ireland but nothing problematic at all. I've been out of touch with their costs but at a $9.25 predicted payout this season I'm not sure that there's any reason why milk volumes will dry up any time soon there. Time for an update from Down Under properly, I think, our Becky. Here, of course, the situation for many is now increasingly desperate. We are in another perfect storm of zero grass and zero cash to buy alternatives for all bar the lucky aligned. But milk prices are moving up, particularly milk for cheese prices. There have been some further announcements this week. Some, if not all, dairy farmers in Northern Ireland might have been disappointed with their price increases for July at less than one pence for Lakeland, taking the total to around 32.7 pence, I think, for our standard litre. But I think that is in line with GB prices back then. However, Lakeland and other Northern Ireland companies have, I think, some way to go to meet GB September prices. The average milk for cheddar price here next month is 34 to 35p and rising because that includes some who haven't announced their milk prices. So, I think that's a good sign. I think that's a good sign. prices yet, and some companies are on 36 to 37p. I would expect further increasing too for October. But has there been any improvement to the market prices this week? Well, the GDT Pulse saw Arla's S&P sell for 2,900 euros, which is up a pretty good 165 euros on the previous Pulse auction and 75 euros on the previous main GDT auction. So, the price is up and I think helping EU prices increase too. Dutch Skim Powder was up 40 euros to 2,860 euros. So, not far behind the Pulse level now. Also worthy of note is that whole milk powder prices increased again. They're up by 240 euros in two weeks. And although we don't make any whole milk powder in GB, and I'm not sure there's much made in Northern Ireland, it is another sign of a rising market. If whole milk powder increases then probably will. And that will help the likes of Lakeland sharpen its pencil for next month. Butter, let's talk about butter. Well, that increased this week. In fact, the Dutch Dairy Board increased all of its prices this week. In fact, pretty much every commodity price point from the Netherlands, France and Germany, increased. So, further signs of a rising market. So, Dutch butter is 3,930 euros. So, a fair way off crossing 4,000 euros still, but on the up, I think. Cream is around 165 still here, either side of that. So, no major change, but I am hearing that EU prices have leapt this week and are similar to UK ones now. However, the futures aren't helping fat prices, I'm afraid. EU butter is down by another 110 euros this week over the next six months' contracts to an average of 4,170 euros. This week's high point is 4,330 euros. So, that shows the drop in sentiment, the dramatic drop. The low price is 4,000 euros for this month. I don't understand why prices are not rising on the back of all the drought-related woes, but they just. aren't, at least they aren't yet. S&P futures are up by 15 euros, not much, taking the price to 2,990 euros over the next six months. But the good news is all contracts are over 3,000 euros from October, although not by much. So, milk price-wise, we're between 26 to 29p over the next six months. Indeed, Skelmersdale farmers are projected to get 24p for their 60% ingredients allocation in August, 25p in September, and 26.5p for October. Really desperate stuff still for them. On cheese, well, real market prices are increasing, I think, because milk volumes into some of the processes are falling, and fast. I'm hearing some intakes to some processes are down 7% to 10%. Mature is already very tight for quarter four, and that is also sharpening a pencil of manufacturers. British Mile cheddar, I'm told, could now be between 3% to 50 sterling to 3,300 now. I doubt anybody would want to sell it for less, given the way milk prices are moving. Irish cheddar is much less, however. Mozzarella, I'm told, that's 3 to 50 sterling now, with manufacturers holding off selling quarter four as we're on a rising market. But the traders, the futures, and the EEX indices all paint a very different story to the UK. And they're at, well, I'm not even going to bother quoting those prices, because I don't think they're credible for the British market. Perhaps the EU one, but not ours. GB cheddar prices now are significantly higher than state. StoneX is quarter one price, for example. And that's the same for mozzarella. Spot milk, I'm told, is in the mid 40 pence. range still. So there you are more improvement but there seems to be a dead weight holding prices back in Europe and anchor weight on some commodities and there's still a long way to go to get to break even milk prices despite the improvement. And now I'll hand over to our professional knowledgeable and esteemed guests to be put through their paces by the rank amateurs that make up our podcast presenters and producers. Take it away everyone. Thank you Chris. Becky welcome to this show. Can you introduce yourself to the listeners please? Thanks Will. Hi I'm Becky from Kite. I'm a technical consultant based in Gloucester working into Wales and sort of down into the southwest. Main chunk of my job is working with clients doing technical work. Okay and Jake welcome to you as well. Can you introduce yourself to the listeners too? Hi Will. Thanks for having me. So I'm a dairy farmer in Sherborne. I farm with my parents. We milk 220 cows through four Lely A5s and we just try and keep it simple really. I'm sure it's not as simple as you make out but yeah we'll get into that in a bit. But Becky, can you give us an update as to the situation as a whole across the UK when it comes to grass forage stocks and maize? As Ben said in the intro it's given this day to be the hottest of the year so far and I think it's the weather and lack of forages on everyone's lips isn't it? Yeah hard to believe that we're having another hottest day of the year or breaking this another record. Yeah obviously we're all aware of sort of the unprecedented times that we're in. No grass growth at all. We're in the middle of the summer. We're in the middle of the fall. We're in the winter. We're feeding winter stocks, maize crops sort of drying by the day. I do think comparing this to last year a lot of farmers have started this year with a better base. We had a really excellent spring and I'd say a lot of farmers are starting off from better grounding of grass silage. We were able to get sort of two or three really good cuts so that sort of put them in a better position but now the drought is sort of getting into its third fourth month. We've been really eating into the drought. We've been really eating into these forage stocks heavily especially where maize stocks sort of been compromised from last year and they're already being stretched out to try and make these last. Yeah the grass cut grass silage is sort of really being compromised. Anyone that's been grazing has sort of been supplementing with forage for quite a while so that's also really implementing these sort of yeah these winter stocks. Yeah and there's some pretty desperate looking crops of maize around isn't there? Yeah it's all sort of started to die off from the bottom end. Yeah okay Jake what's it looking like for you on your farm at the moment? It's looking brown but I think like everyone's it's looking brown. I was looking on the rain chart yesterday and we've had five mil since the 15th of June which is it's tough but I mean yeah we did a cut just after that and nothing's come back since then. The grass is I mean we've got a few stems but that's about it and until it rains again there's not going to be any chance of another silage cut but hopefully hopefully that'll be September maybe but say our cows are housed so they're being fed inside all the time anyway it's just you're seeing the stocks go back quicker than you'd like for the because we because we fed because we ran out of grass in the early in the year we fed our maize early in the year so we're now at the back of the maize pit and yeah looking forward to cutting the maize. Yeah is it a you've got fairly light soils there as well or? We're on clay but it's it's normally good for growing grass yeah and then the maize is looking quite good it's looking a lot better than last year. Okay plenty of listeners in a similar situation to you Jake I'm sure there'll be lots of people nodding along. Becky what advice have you been giving your clients with regards to feed and forage at the moment I mean obviously that's going to depend a lot on personal situation but can you give us some advice? I think it's a good question I think it's a good question some ideas of what you've been saying. Yeah so the first priority is just working out the forage tonnage and what we've actually got available to feed on farm and getting a reasonable estimate as to what we've got and you know what there is likely to come in either maize and potential grass and stocks. We need to do this now because you know it's no good sort of waiting until later on in the autumn or the winter when actually you know we're a lot further down the road so we need to get an understanding as if you are going to be short by how much and what we can do and once we've done that sort of working out a situation for and devising a strategy for each group of those animals and what can be done to protect the highest quality forage for our milking cows. One thing that's come out of this year is there is an abundance of sort of hay, big bale silage and you know a reasonable amount of straw as well so need to sort of come up with a plan whether that's substituting young stock diets for more straw and kale or whether that's substituting cake which can actually work really effectively and sort of maintaining growth rates. Just need to make sure you've got a sort of higher protein cake and you know minerals also being supplied as well. Need to make sure we're not compromising the growth rate to that early stage and then you can also like look at you know far off dry cows and groups like that can you know can handle sort of more straw whole crop or bale heavy diets. Just again need to make sure they're properly balanced with protein and minerals but that can just help prioritize that higher quality forage that maize and grass for the milking cow diets to sort of protect performance. Now we like to be optimistic on this show but a lot of this is out of anyone's hands of course. I mean how likely is it that we'll be seeing an autumn cut across the board do you think? That's quite an unfair question but what do you think? Yeah I mean I you know we all sort of said the rain will come at some point but it just you look at the forecast and there's just nothing. Yeah it just is you can't imagine it but it's um yeah it's going to take it's going to take a lot to get the grass growing again you know it's going to take a month of sort of good decent rain in order to get some some forage there in order to cut and with nothing on the forecast this is sort of pushing on into October you know at the minimum really. We hope we'll get this opportunity but also silage cuts in October and November come with you know additional challenges anyway sort of poor fermentation likely to be lower dry matter low sugars etc so that needs to be considered. Obviously we're still in a position that if there is forage to cut then we'll absolutely take it but um yeah it is it is looking sort of further down the line um there is likely to be quite a lot of residual and in the ground still so you know that needs to be considered before farmers you know go out and putting on more fertilizer if that's if that's on their agenda and then just yeah the soil temperatures will be quite warm so once we do get that rain it is likely to um to really get going but it just does need a good dousing of rain as does everything. We need to get uh John Allen out of retirement Becky to come on the podcast he he was always managed to uh change the weather didn't he with his prediction. Yeah summon the rain or summon the sun. Yeah weirdly I did see him on Saturday and yeah so um who knows this could be a sign. Maybe. Did you rub his shoulder today? Try and get some of that. I did yeah yeah. So John if you are listening which uh I have a feeling you might be please put the word in for us definitely. I'll bob him a message I'll bob him a message. I mean Jake again impossible question many ways but I mean what are your thoughts on this um in terms of where you would like to be I suppose and what do you think is most likely? I'd love to be cutting silage mid-September but I can't see where I'd like to be. I'd love to be cutting silage mid-September but I can't see it happening at the moment um what's there at the moment we're not sure if we're going to mow or if we might just go straight out and top it just to get some regrowth when it rains um we're just whatever is most cost effective sort of at the time um but yeah we're quite happy to be silaging in October if the weather allows us to um sort of um we've done it before and we'll be performing um so yeah whatever the weather allows we'll get as much grass off as we can um because buying grass is always hard work I find. Yeah so it's gonna be a challenge this year um Becky what about May's um and uh advice on sort of getting getting the best out of your crop I suppose? Yeah I've um have seen a few farmers going this week um so far quite mixed uh yields with some some really excellent ones and some some a bit poorer um you know with the continued dry weather it's now a bit of a balance you know the cold weather is a bit of a balance and I think it's going to be a bit of a but the plant is dying off um and so we need to be watching the the May's crops every day um if the plant leaves have started dying and there's there's nothing to be gained as the plant won't continue to fill the grain and so you know dead material won't yeah there's there's no energy in that as well either so we need to yeah be looking at cutting that sooner rather than later um would recommend sort of going out into the into the fields and sort of trying to take a bit of a sample sample to assess the dry matter um yeah recommend sort of 12 leaves of a range within the field nothing near the gateways or anything like that chop and thoroughly mix and then sort of have a look at what the dry matter is anything from sort of 30 to 33 percent is absolutely ideal and you know make that call for the contractor but anything above is a bit of a an urgency you know see what you can do to get in there as soon as possible and anything lower than that then you are able to sort of hold off at that time and obviously it is going to be a lot drier so consider things like chop length trying to chop as short as possible 10 mil or maybe even less the consolidation is really going to be challenged this year because it's such a dry crop and consolidation helps reduce aerobic spoilage and sort of poor fermentation so yeah getting that smaller chop is going to be critical and again sort of all the sort of usual clamp management protocols but making sure you're getting the right level of compaction and sealing down as soon as possible. You know making sure your kernel is going to be extra processed but already going to be compromised on starch this year so making sure that the kernel is being absolutely obliterated and actually that's maintained throughout the whole harvest not just at the beginning so that's something to watch for. So yeah there are a few different things that we can help you know make the maize harvest as successful as possible it's not ideal situations but I would just say you know make sure you're keeping a really really close eye on your maize crops because they yeah especially hottest day today they are just changing by the day at the moment. Yeah and Jake how does that sound for you? You suggested earlier your maize was looking okay. Yeah it sounds sounds sort of similar to us our maize is like every every day when I was 10 days away it's been 10 days away for the last 10 days um so yeah we're we're planning on going at end of next week maybe the beginning of the week after um but yeah it looks surprisingly it looks okay last year we had a horror year with maize and this year um it seems to be like a good crop most of it's eight nine foot so we're and at least well one good cob on most of them so we're fairly happy with it at the moment and hopefully that could be our saving grace sort of through the winter. Imagine if someone had told us a few years back that we'd be harvesting maize in August you'd have laughed wouldn't you? I know it still doesn't seem quite right. I'm pretty sure I mentioned it a couple of podcasts ago that I remember the kite team going out on we do sort of CPD sessions where we go out on clients farms and we all go challenge each other and I'm pretty sure we went to a client's farm in the Midlands or South Midlands in January one year and they'd not managed to get all the maize off and they were talking about how um you know they just had to abandon and they were going to go take it off when it had dried up uh in the end of Jan beginning of February. I think the nice thing about this year is I won't be out brushing the roads for hours this time um I'm not going to be out brushing the roads for hours this time um I'm not going to be out bringing any mud out so that'll be quite nice. That is a silver lining. Oh that's what we like Jake that's what the kite podcast is all about finding the silver lining. It's the only one I can find at the moment but yes. And it's interesting though Becky isn't it on the on the sort of team whatsapp where where some have taken maize already that actually the the yields aren't that bad um obviously not got the analysis back yet but. Well they did have a really excellent start you know back in June we thought we were absolutely onto a winner with this you know this growing year it was looking absolutely great the the grass clamps were absolutely full but and the maize was off to a great start um everyone got their maize in it was yeah really timely so couldn't have asked for a better spring but yeah how little we knew back then. Yeah spring feels a very long time ago doesn't it? Yeah do you feel like this summer's lasted for about three years? Yeah. Yeah ever since May hit. Becky what options are available for forage replacers and what could farmers be looking to buy as an alternative to bought in silage or maize? Uh yeah I mean there's there's loads out there on the market um with anything that you're buying in really need to consider the cost and actually analysis is bringing to the diet um that there are so many different products out there so yeah they all claim that yeah some of them might be the really look at make sure you're looking at the sort of the dry matter and the analysis and what actually makes up the the product whether that's a moist blend or a blend or a cake really look at the actually the cost and the and the sort of dry matter analysis it's bringing in um forage replacers will very much depend on your location um and for some surplus forage might be an option but um and that could be one of the most cost effective cost effective options um moist feeds are also they're in abundance I think they've got good availability uh they do travel quite cost effectively as well they are really palatable and they can bring a lot to the diet but need to sort of consider the cost as they have a lower dry matter um and also things practical things like how quickly you can feed it um as they spoil quite quickly and also delivery options as to yeah we want to keep the milking diet as consistent as possible and yeah need to make sure that we've got a good good supply and you've got a good relationship with that um feed match and um yeah I think that's a really good option I think that's a really good option I think yeah so they can act as quite a good forage replacer sort of five kilos moist blend can help replace sort of three kilos of silage which um over a month can sort of add up to a considerable saving there are also other sort of fiber straights like soil holes or options like maize gluten um to replace forage and feeding two to three kilos can replace sort of five to six kilos of forage which again can be quite a cost effective um option again just needs to be compliant with your milk contract but there are other options that can be used to make sure that you've got options out there I would just say make sure consider the cost and sort of the dry matter analysis before um going ahead yeah I mean you mentioned cost quite a lot there what about prices um I mean at the moment in terms of buying some of those products I mean how does it all stack up yeah the markets have been quite uh turbulent over the last uh fortnight a month uh they have sort of settled down a little bit now but maybe a little yeah a bit still elevated um and I think that's a good thing I think that's a good thing I think that's a good some of the straights I mentioned like soil holes are looking really good value for the winter and that's yeah would recommend sort of cover on those um brewers grains I think you can get fairly um they're fairly readily available it's sort of 70 pounds a ton um to most areas moist blends sort of huge range in products with that but around the region of sort of 130 to 170 so um at that top end you would need to consider you know sort of how how desperate you are and what that is bringing to the diet um press pulp for this year I imagine would be fairly limited just because of the dry weather that we've been having it's not available yet but I think that would be uh limited availability to sort of certain areas um I have seen quite a bit of citrus available which um you know if does come with sort of certain diet parameters that you need to consider it's not it's not for everyone but that could be an option for you um and I have seen some standing maize for sale so if you've got you know if you do think your maize tonnage is going to be down you know you've got to be short on maize and that would also be a really cost effective option um yeah it yeah that is sort of one of the cheapest feed sources so uh if you have seen any in the area and it does travel as well so that could be an option for you okay Becky we seem to be asking every guest this at the moment but how can farmers plan to be more resilient to face these kind of summers in future I think we kind of have to assume these days that I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know at least three out of every five summers are going to be like this so what can we do yeah I guess three out of five summers does that mean we're due another one next year or well if you read about it El Nino and all that is I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but yeah it does it does look like it's going to be hot next summer as well doesn't it well in that case yeah so yeah definitely need to have a strategy in place for that um going forward yeah just need to have to plan to buffer to have two or three months extra storage of forage if you're going to be able to do that you know it's it's it's really difficult to say that right now because you know how I meant to grow when uh there's no rain but um sort of building that into your your cropping plan is is needs to be a priority um there are other options like for anyone that grows cereals um whole crop is a really really reliable and robust option um you know in the middle of summer when um you know we're not quite sure what the rest of the season looks like a whole crop might be an option for um you know just to add in a little bit of extra forage um it's not a substitute for maize at all but it does have a place in sort of young stuff young stock far off diets um and even in milk and cow diets at a low level um and then obviously you know you do have an abundance of grass and it is looking like a good season you can always combine it so that that is an option for some as forage becomes more challenging going forward it just goes without saying that sort of reducing dry matter losses um having excellent clamp management um making sure we're using really good yield for the crop and we're not going to have to worry about the yield for the crop um seed varieties for sort of yield is absolutely paramount so you know all those things that help reduce losses is going to be absolutely key and um yeah we say that every year but it is now becoming more of a priority okay jake is there anything in particular that you're doing or plan to do for to to help mitigate this kind of weather on the farm but for the last couple of years we've been planning on putting in more grass lays just to sort of get that forage um and we've been working on that for a while and we've been working on that for a while and we've been working on that for a while and we've been working on that for a while and we've been working on that for But next year we're taking out 30 acres of cereal and just growing forage for it instead because we think cereals are easy to buy in and forage. If you've got it on farm, great. So if we can get three cuts of an extra 30 acres, then great. We'll be able to feed, we might even have a bit of a buffer next year. In terms of maize, I mean, we put it in almost a month early this year into the ground and historically we've always gone on the 10th of May. It has to be in by the 10th of May, but this year it was sort of by the 15th of April we had it in. And I think going forward we'll probably be aiming for that again just because they say it got off to a good start and then it got the sun and it didn't get any rain. And then I think we'll just cut silage as early as possible so we can push those cuts two, three weeks early each time and then maybe get a fourth cut before July if we're lucky, you know. I think it's just a case of doing everything earlier. But then with winter being a bit unpredictable as well, it's all about what we can get on the field. But that's the plan, do everything earlier and grow as much forage as possible. And I think, you know, Becky obviously works closely with you, Jake, and know a bit about you because we're hosting an event at yours. But there's a bigger sort of longer term plan and business cycle that you've been going through, isn't there? You know, how you sort of set in and invested in the business and how you're setting that up. Why? I don't know if you just want to share a bit of that because it's actually really good context and to also probably give Becky a little bit of a break that, you know, because it's difficult to say and Becky's right, it's really difficult to say today, you know, make sure you've got the forage stocks or make sure you've got the space for the forage stocks or invest in the slurry capacity or because you think, well, actually not in a million, well, you know, we probably couldn't have predicted the last two. And God forbid, Becky, don't suggest a third. Yeah, we could do with a bit of break in the middle. But you've, you know, on a wider basis been building the business for quite a while now. I didn't know if you just wanted to share that, Jake. Yeah. So, say, three or four years ago, we put in milking robots to sort of modernize the business. Dad's legs were wearing out. So we went into milking robots because I didn't want to be in the parlor for that long. And since then, we've just been really pushing sort of efficiency and yields and trying to get as much forage from, well, not trying to get as much forage, but trying to get as much milk from forage as possible. But we're not afraid to feed, concentrate, boost the yield. We're not, again, we're on a whitewater contract. So fats don't really make a difference to us. So we can, that doesn't say, that doesn't matter to us really. Our biggest issue probably, in terms of forages, is our slidish pits. We've got nice slidish pits, but we haven't got enough of them. So the problem is the timing. When the pits are full, there isn't anywhere to put the next cut. So maybe that's sort of an investment we need to make in the future, whether or not a concrete pad just for the maze, I don't know. But yeah, that's, I think it's just all about timing for us. I think in terms of those grasslays that are going in, and I don't know if this is a question for you, Jake, or Becky, but are you looking at anything in terms of variety choice from a drought persistence? I mean, in Yorkshire, it tends to not be quite such a big issue, but, you know, middle of the countries, middle and south now, this is an increasing problem. We haven't yet, but it's definitely something we need to look at. We always go for the multi-cut lay, which is a five-year lay, but bring it out after three years because it always starts to look tired. We always say, we think three years is very much the limit that our grass can do. Yeah. If we leave it in any longer, it just sort of becomes inefficient and we're looking at grass that doesn't grow for the fourth and fifth cut and we're cutting it anyway, so it's an extra cost. So it's cheaper just to get the new lay in. But yeah, we just want as much grass as possible. To grow for as long as possible. I've got to put in a herbal lay mix for a sustainable farming scheme, Becky, and I've been looking at, well, in theory, it's supposed to get in by September the 15th, but I'm not going to put it in unless we get any rain. But I've been looking at different rooted depths, varieties, because of this year. I'm just trying to expect for that again. It'll be interesting to see how that does. Jake, have you found. I'm just interested to hear your thoughts on with the robots. Have you found that with the hot weather, that's maybe been a bit less stress on cows? Yeah. You can see, I think for the last month or so, our yields have been down probably a litre a cow, but they seem to have adjusted to the sort of 25, 26 degrees being consistent. It's when it hits 30 that they really struggle. We put in bands this year as well, and that's made quite a noticeable difference. We're not getting the bunching in the same way. Yeah, I guess it just gives them that a bit more flexibility. Yeah, and our sheds are quite well ventilated, so there's airflow throughout the whole shed. But where the robots are, it's sort of the opposite where the prevailing wind is. So when it's hot, they do tend to stay away from the robots and only go in when they have to. Our visits drop by 0.2 per cow, which is fine because they are still visiting. But it's just, it's less stressful than being in a parlour, I think, for us anyway. One thing going back to grass lays, we have stitched in some clover into some of our lays, again, for sort of SFI and kind of stewardship sort of stuff. And we've grown Westerwalds for the last three or four years, but we're actually thinking of not doing that this year, because where we grew the Westerwald this year, the maize was probably three or four, four weeks behind everywhere else. So we don't know if the grass is too large for that field. And it just looked like it struggled, but it's caught up. But it was worrying when we were driving past it and seeing this, you know, it's just a bit behind everywhere else. So we think we'll probably get more benefit from the ground for the maize rather than for the Westerwald. Interesting. Okay. All right, then. Last question to you both. What message would you like to leave listeners with, Jake, you first? I'll just try not to stress, I mean, we can't do anything about it. It's just, yeah, try and enjoy the sun. I mean, I'm hasty, but I'm still trying to enjoy the sun. But yeah, you can't do anything about it. We'll be cursing the rain in the winter, probably. So, yeah. Yeah. Invented that, Jake. Yeah. Yeah, there is a bit of that, isn't there? We had a family barbecue last night and we were just sitting out and enjoying the sort of, well, it was while the eclipse was on and we were sitting there in the warm weather. In shorts, I did say to my wife, it won't be long before it's typical Welsh winter. Okay. Becky, a new finish. Yeah, just to get a good stock take of what you've already got and how much you might be short of and sort of what you can do to fill that gap. Look at the different groups of animals that you're feeding and sort of have a bit of a plan for them so that you can prioritise the sort of highest quality for those milking cows. Don't delay on looking at your maize crops. They are turning so quickly and there is no benefit holding off as soon as the plant, sort of the bottom leaves have started to die. So, try and, yeah, get out there today if you can. Just have a look at them because they will be turning so quickly. And then just for next year, try and have a bit of a strategy plan in place. Whether that's, yeah, growing a little bit less cereals or, you know, trying to just acquire a little bit of land to, you know, produce an extra 30 acres of grass. Anything like that. Just so that we're not compromised on sort of, yeah, forage stocks for the next year as well. And just to say we are actually hosting a farm walk at Jake's on the 1st of September. We have got a collaboration with Synergy as well. So, it's going to be sort of talking about calf to cow and sort of maximising the young stock period in order to have a successful lactation. So, yeah, 1st of September. If you want the details, please follow our kite socials. Just come and be nosy. That's the best thing about a farm walk. I was thinking you might ask everybody to put a bale in the boot on the back of the truck and bring it down. Just bring a bag of silage. That's all we are. Yeah. Okay. That's all we have time for then this week. But a very big thank you to our guests, Becky Hewlett and Jake Sims, as well as Chris Walkland and Podcast. Producer Becky Ray. Thank you also for listening. As always, please see the show notes for more information, including our podcast disclaimer. We will be back next week when we'll be talking about recruitment in food and farming, education, training and inspiring the next gen. So, I hope you can join us then. But for now, it's goodbye from all of us here.