Probably for the first time in my life, I wish I had more beans. They were pleasantly quick to combine, the moisture was good and the yield was very satisfactory (2.80t/ac).

Add in the protein payment and it makes them the most profitable crop (per acre) this year, because they’re so cheap to grow.

Beans are the perfect antidote to high nitrogen and fungicide costs.

So, are they the perfect break crop? This year, yes, but most other years, no. They’re notoriously unreliable in terms of yield and harvest date but it’s a great help if you can sow them early.

In many ways, this is a poor reflection on the other crops but they were all disappointing in some degree.

The gloss is gone off oilseed rape at today’s prices and successful establishment is becoming more difficult with cabbage stem flea beetle and, as always, slugs.

But with the pod shatter resistance varieties, oilseed rape is pretty reliable.

This autumn, I’ve sown a Clearfield oilseed rape (DK Imprint) to allow control of volunteer spring oilseed rape and charlock. But our rape area is reduced as we’ve become rotationally tight after lots of rape for years now.

We have no cover crops sown this year as we are no longer in GLAS and I’m not sorry. I’m not too bothered about them. The seed is expensive, the strike can be poor and I’m not convinced that they do much for the soil.

Defender versus Hilux

Now, most people would agree that a move to a new Toyota Hilux after driving a rattly Land Rover Defender would be a good idea. I mean what’s not to like?

The Toyota accelerates like sh*t off a shovel, it’s got electric windows and, wow, even climate control – which I’ve set to stay fine until the end of October – and a load bed as big as Co Louth.

Then there’s the power boost button which converts it into a cruise missile. And did I mention the legendary Japanese manufacturing reliability?

All good then? Well, no. It’s not permanent four-wheel drive and spins on a cow sh*te. It even has carpets. Now, come on.

Why do they put posh carpets in a single-cab Hilux that’s destined for a dog’s life with either a construction worker in muddy Cat boots or a dairy farmer in Dunlops splattered in calf scour?

The Japanese manufacturers who designed this should do a stint as a field technician fixing sewage sludge spreaders.

The two Jack Russells, Billy and Pippa, have the impractical Hilux cab destroyed

Then they might think a no-nonsense wash-out Hilux cab a good idea, a là Defender.

There’re more buzzers than in the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Open the door, buzzer. Leave the key in, buzzer. Don’t put on your seatbelt because you’re getting out in five minutes, buzzer. Wander across the white line, buzzer.

Fool that I am, I made the switch and it’s driving me mad. I’ve driven (and loved) a Land Rover for 45 years. This Japanese pretender will never steal my heart.

But, in 2016, Land Rover axed the Defender as we knew it and brought out the new poser wagon that costs three times the price of a Hilux. You won’t see these at the mart but ‘off-road’ in a south Dublin garden centre on a Sunday afternoon.

The two Jack Russells, Billy and Pippa, have the impractical Hilux cab destroyed. But there is a plus to all this. Billy can work the boost button with his paw.

All I say is ‘Boost Billy’ and we’re off like a rocket. And I’m training Pippa to open her window when I say ‘Foxes’. Can’t do that in a Defender.