The sun was shining and temperatures were heading for the mid-20s on Thursday 1 June when the Irish Farmers Journal visited crops in Co Kilkenny with James Irish, an agronomist with Brett Brothers.

There was every mixture of crops to see, from spring barley sown 10 days earlier to spring oats with heads emerging, awns peeping on spring barley, some nice January-sown winter wheat and beans in full flower.

Spring barley being irrigated in south Kilkenny.

The first crop we visited was April-sown spring barley with the flag leaf out in Danesfort. The crop had received manganese and zinc early in the season with the aphicide and CeCeCe. The evenness of the crop was clear, while the early application of insecticide did seem to leave low levels of BYDV. James thinks applying the CeCeCe and nutrition early gets the crop to thicken out quickly and this helps to reduce BYDV levels as aphids may be drawn to the brown and green colours of the soil and the leaf.

Flag leaf emerging on spring barley in Danesfort.

The first fungicide on that crop was Decoy plus Comet and Medax Max (growth regulator) was also applied, helping to put a spring in the crop and keep it standing later in the season.

Just over the road was a February-sown crop of spring barley. Planted after a cover crop, this Planet barley was hard to walk through at times it was so thick. Awns were beginning to peep, but the crop needed another few days before the final fungicide would be applied.

Rhyncosporium and net blotch were visible in the crop as can be seen in the pictures. While the weather had been very dry, the crop was so thick it was no surprise to see some disease getting through and the final fungicide of Barley Pack – Decoy plus Priaxor – will get this under control quickly. Spring barley, whether February- or April-sown, looked well across the day.

Rhynchosporium on barley ready for the final fungicide.

Moving further south to Mooncoin, some late-sown crops were not as good to look at, with moisture lacking. However, these crops were few and far between. Herbicide was due on one crop and fungicide would be applied at the same time, while another crop had only been sown around 20 May and as potatoes were being irrigated nearby the irrigator was brought out for a day to wash the fertiliser in.

Awns peeping on spring barley.

Nearby a crop of maize was sown in the open. Again, this was sown in late May, but should do well in the current heat.

Maize sown in late May.

After potatoes, the ground was showing some signs of compaction.

James said that in this part of south Kilkenny there are a lot of potatoes and destoning is taking some of the structure out of the soil, making it harder to work.

Beans

We saw a lot of beans. All were February sown. They were tall and buzzing with pollinators as they were in full flower. Despite reports of chocolate spot and downy mildew across the country, the crops we saw were very clean, with big leaves soaking up the sunshine. Pod formation will be a bit of a concern in the dry weather, but the crops we saw in Kilkenny had a good canopy and rooting system with plenty of nodules formed to fix nitrogen, so they have good potential.

Beans were very clean.

A T1 fungicide was applied at the start of flowering. Signum was applied with a phosphite. Crops that needed grass weed control received Falcon or Stratos Ultra if the crop had begun to flower. A second fungicide will be applied. The T2 will be Velogy Era and some crops may receive three fungicide applications, but two of these applications are at lower rates, so it is effectively two fungicide applications. James highlighted the importance of beans as a break crop and the impact they have on following crops. He added that they are used in the mill for animal feed.

Seed to plate

James emphasised the importance of the tillage sector to Brett Brothers’ business. Farmers grow seed that eventually grows animal feed for local farmers and for Bretts’ own pig farm, which produces bacon for Oakpark Foods in Cahir.

He said: “Native grain is critical to Bretts in terms of animal feed production. The starting point to that is our seed production plant in Windgap. It starts with the seed. That seed is going out to local farmers in the southeast of Ireland and grain is coming back in whether that be oats, barley or wheat that’s going for animal feed or oats that are going to Flahavan’s for porridge for human consumption.”

“We pride ourselves on the inclusion levels of native grain. Last year it was close to 45% native grain inclusion. We took in close to 80,000t of grain last year across five grain intakes in Kilkenny, Tipperary and Waterford. The tillage sector is vital to Bretts.”

You can hear more from James on the Irish Farmers Journal’s Tillage Podcast. Scan the QR code with the camera on your smartphone to hear James’s interview.

Oats

Brett Brothers assemble oats for Flahavan’s. James said mildew made it into crops where fungicide was delayed early in the season. However, disease levels were under control quickly. T1 fungicides were generally Midas for mildew control along with a growth regulator. Decoy and Comet, along with a growth regulator, were applied for the T2.

James applied foliar potash on the final oats fungicide to improve kernel content.

The majority of oats grown for Bretts are destined for Flahavan’s so grain quality is very important. James has been applying foliar potash to crops in recent years at the final spray. He said this seems to be having an impact on kernel content and is helping to produce a better-quality grain to meet specifications.

The head emerging on spring oats.

The panicle was starting to emerge on spring oats and many of those crops would be due their final fungicide this week. Velogy Era was the choice here.

Oats at a pole which did not receive growth regulator.

Wheat

On one farm we saw some January-sown oats and wheat. Both crops looked well. The wheat was just at flag leaf and the crop was very thick. The variety was Graham and rust did make its way into the crop, but was put under control quickly.

Mildew under control in January sown Graham winter wheat.

The T1 was Elatus Era and Folicur to control rust. Macfare Xpro was used on many other T1 fungicides, but with rust present James felt this was a good option. Growth regulator was also applied. The T2 was going to be applied as soon as possible after the crop was walked. James recommended Revystar, with Amistar for rust control and Folpet.

Winter barley

We looked in on some winter barley crops also. Joyau is popular in south Kilkenny due to the risk of BYDV. This variety has a tolerance to the virus and is an early ripener. Crops looked good in general.

Joyau winter barley.

Winter barley is a big crop for Bretts and while area sown was back slightly, overall customers did well in sowing winter crops. Usually, the split is 25% spring and 75% winter crops. This year it is about 40% spring and 60% winter. The combine will tell all on these crops in a few weeks’ time.