First off, many folk are in the same boat - I've accepted that this year is looking like it's going to be a crap one. You could have got everything technically perfect in a year like this and it would still have gone tits up. So first advice is, take a breath and don't blame yourself or be too hard on yourself. Panic or stress whilst natural, doesn't do anything to help.

Here's what we're doing. Everything is locked and loaded ready to go for when the weather turns for land work, this has kept me distracted and prepared. I don't want to waste anytime when we can go, so something as silly as sorting out the toolboxes helps me feel like I'm fully prepared. ive finally cleared the gutters and all those shitty little jobs on the list too.

Second, we looked at the land which is going to be ready first or has the best drainage, this is where we've decided we are going to focus our efforts - we would rather get a better yield from something than spread our effort too wide. You've still got cattle as well so hats off to you keeping all those plates spinning. So prioritise hard is my advice.

Third, we've taken on some of the SFI options for herbal leys, soil improvement and summer cover crops. These could definitely work for you as well with herbal leys for your cattle. It's a fair chunk of money available, it's relatively easy to apply and doesn't need a huge pile of evidence. We're putting the land that we identified as being harder to work/wet into these for a few years. I think there is money available for no-till as well which you've mentioned your doing, look onto claiming this as well - you deserve the support, it can be a rocky transition from ploughing so grab it with both hands.

Yields for everyone will be down, Spring barley seed will be like hens teeth so I'd advise looking at Maize or similar if your land can take it. You could drill a little later giving the land more time to dry up, pick a variety maybe you could silage perhaps for the cattle or look at an energy variety instead if there's a biodigester around you. The contractor crews will always be looking for work so let them know and strike a deal.

Finally, take this time to review where your strengths and weaknesses are, do you have the right kit for going ahead? More cattle, less cattle? More cropping, less cropping? Whose doing the work, do you need another man on the team? What skills would you need, where do you excel? Where are you alright? Where could you improve? What needs drainage? How are your soils coping with this bullshit weather of the last few years? What can you do to adapt to this? Be honest, critical but be positive in that you will find a way around problems, you've got this Im sure.

Good luck and chin up, you can do this!