Lime: While not as cheap as it used to be, lime still represents good value for money as a nutrient.

The payback is fast on soils that are low in pH, improving the efficiency of all other fertilisers and increasing grass growth by 1t/ha, without spreading any extra fertiliser. That’s an enormous response and it can’t be ignored.

Farmers operating in a nitrates derogation are obliged to spread lime to correct low pH in soils. While lime can be spread all year round, the most popular time is early autumn.

On silage ground, spreading lime after second cut is an ideal time. On grazing ground, spreading after grazing is important because you don’t want the lime sticking to the leaf and then being ingested by the animal.

On rates, most farmers will stick to spreading 2t/acre in one application regardless of requirements. Where soil sample results show a higher requirement, go with another application in six months’ time.

Cost wise, lime has inexplicably increased in price by about 40% to 50% over the last few years and now costs between €30 and €34/t to get delivered and spread.

Spread slurry and urea fertiliser a few days to a week before spreading lime and wait six months before spreading slurry or urea on fields that have been spread with lime.

Electric fencers: With ditches and hedgerows at their peak in terms of growth, the power in electric fences usually falls off at this time of year as vegetation and long grass is earthing the fence.

Cutting back hedgerows is not permitted until after 1 September.

Increasing the number of earth rods attached to the fencer is a very effective way of increasing the output voltage in the wire. The extra earth rods counteract the earthing taking place from the weeds touching off the wire, or if gaps are left down, etc.

A lot of electric fencers only have three or four earth rods. This might be OK for smaller areas but larger fencers covering larger areas need at least 10 earth rods and up to 16 where there is a lot of weeds touching off wires.

I know of cases where the output went from 1,000 volts to over 4,000 volts when extra earth rods were added. If cows or cattle get into the habit of breaking wires it can be a hard habit to break.

Dairy cows need a minimum of 2,000 volts while cattle need over 3,000 volts to keep them in. It’s also important to use high quality 2.5mm insulated cable to connect earth rods to the fencer. Avoid copper wires as these corrode over time.

Holidays: It was interesting to read that Farm Relief Services are reporting a surplus of relief milkers. This indicates two things; firstly that there are plenty of people available and willing to milk cows and secondly, that farmers aren’t taking holidays as normal.

If the response to a difficult year is to work harder, the outcomes won’t be good. There are countless studies that show how taking proper time off leads to better outcomes in work.

This means that the farm will operate to a higher level after taking a break from it. It’s a no-brainer to get away for a week or two.