Cattle Keepers –

It is critical that you notify BCMS of movements within 3 days. Any late notifications could immediately mean a 3% penalty across all schemes, i.e. Single Payment Scheme, Tir Gofal, Tir Cynnal, Tir Mynydd, Organic Farming Scheme.

This is the most common cross compliance failure in Wales. If you require assistance in notifying BCMS, please let us know. We can provide a service to notify CTS online on your behalf.

Soil Assessment –

In the recent wet weather a number of farmers have been penalised for causing soil damage or soil erosion and not recording it in their soil assessment books. If any damage occurs to your fields in wet weather, record it in your soil assessment book immediately, even if you hope to rectify the damage in the near future. This should protect you from any penalty if you were inspected.

You may have read the article in the Farmers Weekly recently about locking in your Single Farm Payment at the current Euro/Sterling conversion

rate. This e-mail attempts to explain the issue and to make you aware of the options available.

Your Single Farm Payment is calculated in Euros by the Welsh Assembly Government. You can then choose on your Single Application Form whether to receive the payment in Euros or Sterling. The vast majority of farmers usually elect to receive their payments in Sterling. The payment is therefore converted to Sterling by the Assembly on the conversion rate on the 30^th of September in that calendar year. (0.79 conversion rate in 2008)

The farmers who elect to receive their payment in Euros are paid in Euros into a Euro bank account which they have set up with the bank. They can then convert these Euros back to Sterling at any time they wish, (most would do so when they received the payment – 1^st of Dec for majority). This effectively means that these farmers can choose to play with the exchange rate if they wish.

The article in the farmers weekly by World First, highlighted the option of forward booking a conversion of your euros into sterling at today’s conversion rate, which is 0.94. They required a deposit of 10% from farmers for this service, however the main banks are offering this service without a deposit.

SO WHAT WOULD YOU GAIN?

The conversion rate in 2007 was 0.69

The conversion rate in 2008 was 0.79

The conversion rate today is 0.94

On a payment of say €40,000 you would have received (before modulation) :-

2007 £27,600

2008 £31,600

2009 £37,600 (at today’s rate)

All you are doing is therefore eliminating the risk that the exchange rate falls back between today and the 30^th of September when the Assembly converts the money.

SO WHAT WOULD YOU LOSE?

The gamble you would take by forward booking a conversion rate is that the pound weakened further and that the conversion rate would improve by the 30^th of September. (Barclays Chief Economist is however indicating that the exchange rate will fall back towards 0.85 towards the end of the year. )

By pre-booking this conversion rate you are entering into a contract to convert your Euros in a certain payment window e.g. 1/1/10 to 31/03/10. If your payment was late for any reason, you would then be in breach of contract. However, the contracts can be extended for a fee.

Many businesses pay from £700 upwards for their annual accounts to be completed. How many actually use the accounts to assess their position and profitability?

Accounts show real costs, all be it sometimes not broken down into enough detail. Bu

t, they can provide a good starting point to see where things have gone wrong, or gone right. Questions that should be raised from annual accounts are as simple as:

Did I make a profit?

Did the profit cover my drawings?

Did my balance sheet improve?

Is my output, measured by sales, growing?

Are my costs increasing faster than my output?

These questions will provide a starting point for some decisions on best way forward.

So often the case when cows are not milking well or milk butterfats and protein are poor the nutr

itionist gets the phone call to resolve the problem. The breeding advisor/technician is called when cows are not cycling, holding to services and the vet with issues such as ketosis, displaced abomasums, milk fevers’s, metritis etc etc.

Many of the issues raised can in fact be linked and one issue leads to another, yet on most dairy units the nutritionist, breeding advisor and vet never meet or know what issues they are having with mutual farms. Occasional but regular joint meetings can have significant impact on technical performance of a dairy unit.

An example might be significant incidence of displaced abomasums which is likely to be linked to dry cow management and nutrition. Low milk proteins, falling condition score and poor conception rates may be linked to energy levels of the milking cow diet. Working as a team on dairy units can result in problems being diagnosed quicker and therefore being resolved sooner. This has significant impact on dairy cow performance and therefore farm returns. Team approach avoids the SOS approach to managing a dairy unit and can lead to less vet visits to treat sick cows and by the breeding technician for repeat services.

The credit crunch seems to be the only news meriting any attention at present

, but is this really having an impact on the agricultural sector? The major impact will be seen by new borrowers or those restructuring debt. In these circumstances, the cost of raising funds at bank level is increased, and therefore this will be passed onto the borrower.

In basic terms, although most owner occupier farmers have reasonable levels of security, new debt may not be at such good rates as previously seen. In order to prise as good a deal as possible out of the bank there are several things you can do to help:

1. Ensure you ask for the correct amount of capital – asking for more at a later date is a sign of poor planning

2. Structure the debt over the correct period – too quick a repayment period will see overdraft pressure

3. Make sure you have an up to date balance sheet and farm valuation – security is still vital

4. Always allow for some sensitivity and over spend in plans and budgets

5. FINALLY … Show the bank a professionally produced business plan. (CARA does these regularly)

Having all five factors above covered will gain respect and understanding from the bank manager and help in negotiating a competitive rate of borrowing.

The last couple of years we have seen semen companies trying to find different ways of maintaining

and increase their market share in this declining market place. The latest method of enticing new customers is to offer aid with heat detection and ultimately getting the cow back in calf. Different services are being offered from daily on farm service to cow collars which record change in cow behaviour.

Let’s face it semen companies make their money from semen sales (with a very lucrative margin) and will offer all sorts of gimmicks to maintain and increase their market share. All you as a dairy farm need is a cow in calf calving every year.

There are all sorts of issues which affect fertility from nutrition, health, minerals etc however it is widely accepted that the major reason cows are not getting back in calf is poor observation in catching cows in heat. Over the last decade herd sizes have increased significantly and number of cows to a man ratio with it. This has resulted in less time being available to give to the routine of observing cows and heat detection. There is also the added problem of the modern dairy cow showing oestrus signs for a shorter period. Over 55% of cows remain on heat for less than 8 hours and 43 % show heat signs between midnight and 6 am.

Paying for a semen company to help with heat detection and ultimately get cows back in calf is money well spent so long as it works and the fertility does actually improve. Many farms have signed on to one of these new systems but are not monitoring whether the results are any better than before. If you pay a professional to do a job then the least you can expect is that the job will be done better than you can do it.

There are various fertility indices used by the industry to measure and monitor fertility:

TARGET

Calving index <370 days

Interval to 1^st service 60 days

Conception Rate 60%

Services to Conception 1.65

Heat Detection Rate 70%

Pregnancy Rate 36%

80 Day Submission Rate 85%

100 Day in Calf Rate 95%

200 Day Not In Calf Rate 6%

All these indices have their uses. The danger is that your semen salesman and/or advisor will select the index which shows him/her in best light and not what is really happening. For example take the first two on the list, these indices only evaluate cows that have been served and exclude cows with no service date.

Challenge your breeding advisor today to ensure that the service you pay for is value for money. If you do not have a strategy and your fertility is poor maybe you should think of employing an external service today. To review your dairy cow fertility strategies contact us at CARA.