Despite the really difficult weather, we got all the winter barley finished and the straw I intend to keep baled.

Despite contacting a lot of people that know the straw business, I could not get one bid for my big field of Cassia winter barley so I rang the local County Council office to ask them if it was OK to burn it. They sensibly said that as long as there was a proper fire break around the boundary, there was no problem so we are ploughing five furrows right around the field and we will then set a match to it.

At about 10-12 bales to the acre, it’s €100 cash per acre less than I had counted on but I don’t see any option. The crop itself did surprisingly well, yielding 3.9t/acre at a moisture level of 18.5% – 22% higher than desirable but with it treated for Roundup, the straw was beginning to break down and with no settled spell forecast, we decided to cut.

As it was in a maximum risk take-all situation following two wheats, I was happy enough apart from the price. Over the weekend, I got the intake printout and the bushel for the 18% moisture was 64 – not bad for a year like this one. We may all have mentally written Cassia off too soon.

However, we still have a long way to go with oilseed rape, oats, beans and wheat still to cut. As soon as we have the barley fields cleared of straw, we will get slurry out and prepare to sow oilseed rape again. After last year’s difficulties, I am being forced to go back to the plough – with its attendant costs.