Naas, Co Kildare

In a locked down Kildare, the broken harvest continues. Around 7mm of rain fell on Tim’s farm last week. Combined with heavy dew in the morning, harvest windows are proving tight. Despite this however, he has managed to finish his winter barley and oat harvest and was able to bale the majority of his straw.

His winter barley crops yielded between 2.9t and 3.5t/ac. Specific weights came in around 67KPH, with moistures ranging from 14.5-18%. Tim noticed that his two-row varieties performed better than his hybrid varieties. He noted that his LG Castings variety performed particularly well, averaging 3.4t/ac with good swards of straw.

His hybrid varieties failed to tiller in the autumn and he now questions if he should adjust seed rates to increase plant numbers next season. On average, his winter barley yielded 7.5 4x4 bales/ac, well back from an average of 12 bales/ac.

Tim’s winter oat crops did reasonably well, averaging 3.3t/ac with a range of between 3t and 3.5t/ac. Harvest moistures varied from 15% to 17% and specific weights averaged 53KPH. The oat straw was green at harvest and needed time to mature. The crops yielded 7.5 4x4 bales/ac. Tim opted to chop straw on the headlands, however.

His winter wheat crops are still a week away from harvest and he is unsure how they will perform. This year, he is using a yield mapping system on his New Holland CX8.70 with 25ft head. The maps have really highlighted the variability in crop performance in the field. Tim’s spring barley is around a week away from harvest and has seen a lot of secondary growth. He has opted not to send the crop for malting this year.

Tim aims to stubble cultivate the fields once they are cleared. The delay in clearing straw from fields likely means that he won’t be able to plant a cover crop after winter barley as planned. However, he still intends on planting a combination of stubble turnip and forage rape after spring barley this year. This catch crop will be grazed over the winter months.

Lifford, Co Donegal

The somewhat settled weather over the past week has really helped ground conditions on Hugh’s farm. Around 130mm of rain fell in June and 140mm in July, well above average. Ground conditions had been deteriorating, but have improved considerably in August, just on time for the harvest, explains Hugh.

Crops have only started to really turn on Hugh’s farm in the past 10 days. He will likely start cutting winter wheat by next Wednesday, before moving onto winter oats. The straw is still very green on both crops, however. Crops are ripening later than normal this year, says Hugh. This has come as a surprise to him, considering that his planting date and his nutritional programme were the same as previous years.

He has noticed a late flush of weeds appearing in his winter wheat crops, mostly annual meadow grass. He thinks the weed seeds may have germinated when the weather broke, but have just become noticeable now. The crops received an application of Cameo Max and Zypar in the spring. He thinks that the weeds could cause problems at harvest time, so he will treat them before harvest.

Hugh’s spring malting barley crops will be harvested in August. While there are no secondary tillers, he did notice that the crop is ripening unevenly. He fears that this crop may not make malting quality.

Hugh is currently deciding on his cropping options for 2021. He is considering growing winter oilseed rape for Donegal Rapeseed Oil this year, as the crop generally performs well on his land. This crop will follow winter wheat.

He aims to stubble cultivate once fields are cleared, but he is generally interested in minimum tillage crop establishment. “I wouldn’t mind trying to direct drill a cereal crop this year, but there are no contractors in the area with a suitable drill,” he commented.

Hugh will bale around 3,000 small square bales this year for a select number of customers. His customers generally collect the bales on the same day as they are baled, which is important for him.

Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny

Long days in between the wet spells of weather allowed James to get through the work this harvest. Overall, he says the harvest has been reasonably good, but straw yields are back significantly.

The settled weather over the weekend has allowed him to make good progress with his winter wheat, having started last Friday. He finished harvesting the crop on Tuesday, with yields ranging between 4-5t/ac and averaging around 4.3t/ac. Harvest moistures ranged from 17% to 23%.

Grain weights have been good this year, ranging from 74 to 82KPH, depending on the moisture. His highest-yielding variety was Graham, following oilseed rape, which yielded 5t/ac.

Wheat straw yields are back by 30%, averaging around 2.8 8x4x4 square bales/ac. Straw is proving a challenge to bale this year.

James finished his winter oat harvest on July 29. Overall, the crop yielded 3.2t/ac, which was disappointing. Specific weights ranged between 50-56 KPH. His oat crops, which were sown on lighter soil, were badly impacted by drought earlier in the season.

An amount of the crop was killed during the winter by wet conditions and wasn’t replanted. Oat straw yields are back by as much as 50% and he still has an amount of straw to bale.

He finished his winter oilseed rape harvest on 4 August. Over a 30 hour day, harvesting non-stop, he was able to cut around 380ac of the crop. Between his best and worst crops, he averaged 1.8t/ac. Moistures ranged from 8% to 14%. He has yet to bale his oilseed rape straw.

James’s winter barley crops yielded an average of 3.6t/ac, which he is happy with, considering the tough year. He still managed to bale the last 200ac of barley straw this week. This straw has taken a lot of effort to save, requiring turning up to five times in some cases.

Preparation is ongoing for his 2021 winter oilseed rape crop, which will be planted by the end of the month. He is planning on planting the varieties DK Expansion and Aurelia this year. All ground destined for WOSR has been stubble cultivated and sprayed with a non-selective herbicide.