Northernlights

Yes its been a very warm humid few days here with rain off and on just adding to the saturated ground .Grass still growing but value questionable. Trying hard to keep cows outside with their calves for a while yet as pneumonia risk inside for calves very high now even with vaccination. had two sets of twins008.MP4 this year. A bit of work getting them drinking off mum and also getting mum to realise she has two calves although both these cows realised they had two each very quickly

Exactly the same here builders repairing troughs in steading benefitting from the old lights that we replaced two weeks ago.We now have LED ones which are absolutely fantastic. Currently damp with low cloud down to 400 feet and 10c. Its suddenly even dimmer now. Never experienced anything like this.

Just for info I put this in the seasonal forecast thread; I think the chances of heavy snow this winter are very high especially on the hills of Scotland.Why because a few weeks ago Glencoe Mountain anounced that they were going to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy a Snow Factory capable of making hundreds of tonnes of snow at up to 25c to give them at least one run of snow throughout the season from Ist December to Ist May after last years lack of snow .The news in the last day that Cairngorm Mountain is also going to trial a Snow Factory for December and January now confirms that at least the Mountains of Scotland will get dumped on by the weather snow gods.

I think the chances of heavy snow this winter are very high especially on the hills of Scotland.Why because a few weeks ago Glencoe Mountain anounced that they were going to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy a Snow Factory capable of making hundreds of tonnes of snow at up to 25c to give them at least one run of snow throughout the season from Ist December to Ist May after last years lack of snow .The news in the last day that Cairngorm Mountain is also going to trial a Snow Factory for December and January now confirms that at least the Mountains of Scotland will get dumped on by the weather snow gods.

Another fairly inaccurate local short term forecast with today forecast as mostly dry but in fact it was very wet this afternoon. Saw two huge combines parked up in a half cut field of wheat loking very forlorn in the rain this afternoon. . A bit of a faux pas from the civil servants in the agricultural part of the Scottish government putting out a statement to the effect that cereal yields were up this year when a lot has been harvested in poor condition this past fortnight and 20% still remains to be cut in the north of Scotland especially Aberdeenshire. Even in this area there is quite a lot of straw to bale so the price of straw is moving up especially with all the fields being cut green in the middle of summer for all the bio digesters in the area.

Cool breezy day here with odd shower early am.Made it up to 9c so grass growth slowing up. Getting dark early in the evenings so really an autumnal feeling. Still a fair number of fields of cereals to cut in the North of Scotland especially in Aberdeenshire .Not a vintage year on a lot of farms.

Well after a fine Friday and Saturday with combines everywhere I think the bulk of the harvest is done in this area and most of the straw was baled before the wind got up this afternoon. Now the grain will just have to be dried and the quality checked. We have been busy calving cows so the better weather is helping the calves get on their feet quickly. If it becomes more showery this coming week then the mad rush to finish the harvest this weekend will have been worthwhile.

Yes combines out again late afternoon in spite of high humidities, moisture contents being ignored although some buyers have upped their maximum moisture levels from 24% to 26%. It really is turning into a salvage operation now. With even ash trees leaves going yellow it is really begining to feel like a very strange autumn.

It seems it wasn"t our imaginations Scotland is getting wetter in the summer

Maybe but dust getting onto any electronic sensors nowadays seems to cause just as many issues and on this areas stony ground any machine that swallows one that has been missed still ends up in a mess.Less people to make sure all stones are removed. Yellow New Holland combines from that era till today still have a reputation for reliabillty. providing they are well serviced and stored dry for the rest of the year. Water in bearings and severe frost are bad news.

Yes a wonderful day with combines on the go but yes you are correct some fields have been abandoned because of wet ground or the crop is so flat and sprouting and has very little value. The fact that the wet spell was so long and the crop very ripe it is collapsing with any wind or heavy rain.It"s a long time since I have seen Nairnshire with so much crop still not cut when it is so ripe. I think only 1985 would have been worse when there was still a lot of crop to cut in mid October. Another observation is that a lot of big units are stuggling trying to do large acreages with the minimal machinery based on say 50 working days.If however there only 20 dry days for working in they are in trouble. I am reminded of my old college economics lecturer in the seventies who said that when she went onto a farm where there should only be one combine and she found two,the first one was treated as a machinery cost and the second one as an insurance cost agaist bad weather and breakdowns. In the seventies there were twice as many combines in the north of Scotland as theoretically needed just to match the poor climate.Some of these lessons seem to have been forgotten today.

More overnight and morning rain been a very wet spell now.Cleared to warm sunshine this afternoon but with no wind it became oppressively humid and you would have thought we culd have got a thunderstorm at any moment. Farmers with crops of cereals and tatties in this area to harvest must be despairing of any dry weather.Had another calf last night took cow into calve because of the wet and put cow and calf out in sunshine this afternoon, calf soon fast asleep in the sun after a good feed from the cow. Temperature got up to 17 c this afternoon

Even the east here looks like rain now in spite of the local forecast saying dry till 4.00pm. Mild though at 15c Some combines went all night last night and anyone with a combine who is finished are helping others out but a lot of grain will need a lot of drying and a lot is being rejected for malting. Its fast becoming a salvage operation.

Dry and sunny above this mrning and currently 11c. Out this morning at 5.00pm in the dark to check on first calver that we have kept in to observe and had the dog with me. As we approached the steading there was a terrific growl and a clatter as something jumped into the fold and hit the gate.Must have been a badger again. Dog was hilarious with every hair standing up on her back!! Ground still saturated with a very heavy dew and patchy mist this morning.

But even on netweather the local 1-3 day forecasts have been very inaccurate this summer for haymaking and even for this coming weekend Sunday has been either bone dry or showery in the last 12 hours. Into our 18th hour of rain now so total shutdown in the fields and currently 11c

Great blue sky dry day after a cool start at 5c, what a change, combines appeared all around us in the afternoon.Thousands of geese here now probably a fortnight earlier than usual but they probably decided to come early hitching a ride on the northnorthwesterly wind of the last few days

More steady rain this morning Even for a farmer that has secured the harvest the almost continuous rain of the last ten days is getting tedious.A NNW wind can be a wet direction for the south side of the Moray Firth. Fields are waterlogged now. Took in the first cow to calve last night and we have nice heifer calf born at 5.30am. At least it will get to dry off before we put it out later today. Currently10c

Cute start to the day with two young roe deer looking in the window at me. They are in the turnip field next to the farm not afraid of humans and very inquisitive.Tried to get a photo as they moved away so a bit blurred. Currently very wet and 9c so feels and looks like mid October. A lot of crop still to cut in the area as well as straw to bale so everyone looking for some dryer weather.

Mean"t to add first snow of the season on Ben Nevis this morning

Cool autumnal start to the day at 6.30am at 6.5c. Went out the door to be greeted by the sight of the first huge skein of honking geese passing overhead heading south with a tail wind behind them.Took a few more steps round corner the garden wall and almost collided with a pair of roe deer calves who have taken up residence in the turnip field behind the farmhouse. They just stood there looking at me and then walked off going under the gate and then back into the field.Less than 18 inches clearance under the gate too.Currently overcast and 11c

Another wet dreich mid October morning with more heavy rain overnight. Currently 8.5c. Ground getting very wet now. Even clearing round bales is going to be a messy job unless we get some drying winds.

A real dark mid October morning here today with periods of very heavy rain a strong NW wind off the Firth and currently 10c

Yes quite a considerable quantity of cereals to cut up here still and the quality will soon be lost if these heavy showers keep up.even tattie ground will soon be very wet for lifting. The autumn is not keeping up the good start it had.

Yes a very autumnal day here with sharp showers and a few sunny intervels and the fast changing colours on the trees make it look much later into autumn.A farmer on the Black Isle posted a photo of a formation of geese . If they are the first migrating ones it seems quite early.He also said all his swallows had left but there still quite a number here.Currently 10c

Another fine day, breezy, sunny intervels and a maximum of 17c. Finally finished the last batch of this seasons hay and baled the last straw field last night. Have done more outside work that needs dry weather in the last four days than in the last four weeks so tired contented farmer but only for a week or so as cows about to calve. At least if the forecast rain and wind arrives then we are up to date as we can be.