A few weeks ago I posed the question as to how 2018 would be remembered? A few weeks later and the early start to the harvest is certainly a talking point. The continuous high temperatures and absence of rainfall have combined to accelerate crop development and maturity. These have now brought harvest forward despite crops being backward earlier in spring following the late planting.

While there were a few combines out in the last days of June, most growers will only get going this week in the good harvesting conditions. On one hand it is good to get going following the difficulties experienced in recent years. On the other hand there is the great concern that so many crops have been pulled forward and this is giving rise to concerns about grain fill levels and its consequences for yield and quality.

Very early indications in this regard are somewhat promising. While there are poor grain fill scenarios on light land and on sandy patches in fields there are also very many winter crops which show considerable promise.

Harvesting in dry conditions

The speed of moisture loss is unusual for this country. While it brings ease of harvesting and low grain moisture levels, it also brings some untypical risks. Having straw so dry adds to the risk of fire around harvest machinery and this must be taken seriously by a combination of blowing down and washing machines on a regular basis. This is not a usual problem but it is a real risk that must be considered.

Allowing grain to drop significantly below 15% moisture means loss of weight and crop yield. There is little you can do about this other than to monitor crops as they mature. Many crops will have a combination of early and late patches so try and target cutting on the upper side of 15% moisture. Grain samples are likely to have some combination of immature and overripe grains.

High daytime temperatures bring a level of risk for grain and straw. Putting higher temperature grain into store in these conditions increases the risk of respiration that can give rise to mould and heating in store, even at low moisture levels. For this reason it is important to have air under grain that is stored even for a short period. Green grains in the sample add to the risk of this problem.

The crop itself brings its own risks too. With much of it very dry, be very conscious of doing anything that would bring a risk of fire. Smoking in fields is an obvious example and fag butts could be lethal. It makes sense to add a tanker full of water to your harvest kit as a small fire could get very big very quickly in a dry crop.

Straw brings its own risks with fire being the most obvious. But the temptation to get fields cleared could still have patches of green straw in crops immediately post cutting.

This, combined with the high air temperatures, could result in subsequent heating in tightly compacted dense bales. While one might get away with this in round bales, make sure that the straw is fully mature before baling into high density bales.

Awns

One of the possible issues that may emerge during the early winter barley harvest is that it may be difficult to remove the full awn from the grain. This often happens when crops are forced in rather than fully mature. Showers are generally credited with ending this problem when it occurs but with no rain forecast, combine settings may be all we can do.

The challenge is to remove as much of the awn during the initial threshing as possible without damaging the skin of the grain. This is very much a balancing act between the two objectives. Where a crop will not thresh clean one must make best use of de-awning devices where they are fitted. So ensure that they are working properly before you begin to cut.

Given the largely dry grain filling period it is likely that specific weights will be generally high this harvest but these may or may not be accompanied by big yields or high thousand grain weights.

Catch crops

One of the potential benefits of an early harvest is that fields can be cleared early which allows the potential to plant catch, cover or fodder crops. And with grass growth being hammered by the ongoing lack of moisture, any and all fodder sources could still be of benefit to the national farming effort. And one of the great benefits of doing this with an edible catch crop mix is that it can be incorporated back into the land to provide long term benefit if a market does not materialise.

It makes little sense to leave a stubble that is cleared now idle for the next three to eight months. It is inevitable that, with the heat in the ground, there will be a quite substantial release of nitrogen whenever moisture is added to the mix. So there is likely to be huge potential to grow plants when moisture becomes available and the general comment that a day’s growth in July is worth a week’s growth in August or all of September’s growth, is true.

Catch crops sown with fodder species add to the options a grower has now and also add to the potential income from the land this year. Realistically a mixture will need to be harvested rather than grazed especially where a winter crop is intended. I might also suggest that a fodder crop might still be harvested in the late autumn rather than grazed but in this instance one should leave the stubble to regrow to continue to help protect the soil from winter rain.

The regrowth may not come to a lot in terms of a subsequent fodder harvest but it and its roots will help the soil in the longer term. This benefit is increased with repetition.

Species options depend a bit on what the normal crop rotation is and whether possible species would interfere with it. Fodder rape and leafy turnip are very useful if brassica crops are not being grown. Include a legume like peas or vetch to help feed and drive autumn growth. One might also include a cereal like oats or barley to help add bulk into a forage.

Specific fodder crops can also be grown but these probably need to be grazed in situ and many growers may not want that. Another possible option ahead of a spring crop might be to put in Italian or Westerwolds Ryegrass. But this option would require the definite involvement of the customer to ensure offtake and payment.

Another option now is to utilise pig slurry or poultry litter ahead of the catch crop which should be sown by minimum cultivation, regardless of whether you are in GLAS or not. With land being so dry there are no concerns currently about running big machinery across it to do things that will ultimately help your soil. The bigger the bulk of catch crop you grow the more you have to sell or incorporate but either way the benefit is yours.

Subsoiling

Most land took considerable abuse over the past 12 months. The early summer showed this clearly in fields where headlands and areas alongside tramlines died off very quickly due to either compaction or damaged soil structure. So the temptation is to get out with a subsoiler and burst everything up.

I am generally allergic to subsoilers but they can have a place in the dry soil conditions like we have now. Land must be able to burst in the process and it will not do that when it is damp. But is there a need for subsoiling now given the incredible cracking that most land has been subjected to by the on-going dryness?

The answer is neither black nor white. The only way that one can answer this question is to be out digging with a spade. Is there real compaction or just structure damage? Is there repeated evidence of a definite pan or dense layer at a somewhat uniform depth? Are roots able to penetrate though this layer? These are all important questions to assess if you are considering investing in diesel and metal to loosen it up.

Subsoilers loosen soil but they do nothing to improve soil structure. That is a separate operation and must be done separately and continuously. Applying organic matter is a big help (any type including a catch crop) but the biggest benefit is likely to be found where plant roots can grow into the fissure and cracks before the land is driven on again by machinery.

So if you are harvesting winter barley can you put in a cover crop using minimum tillage and then subsoil where necessary? The seeds will grow when the moisture comes and there will be nothing back on that land until it is being harvested or incorporated. With early planting it should produce a lot of vegetation, plus a big root mass to grow through cracks and fissures to prevent them from closing up fully again post subsoiling.

Compost

Another thing that might be considered on worn land is to spread compost after the straw is removed, either with or without a cover crop. There is no need to incorporate this post application as its nutrients and especially nitrogen content is low. This would provide a good environment for earthworms to multiply and feed to help build numbers to restore soil structure.

If slurry or manure is to be applied as an alternative to compost then these should be incorporated within four hours of application (much quicker if possible in this weather).

Oilseed rape

One of the big questions now is whether oilseed rape needs to be desiccated given the fact that the heat and lack of moisture is bringing crops in rapidly. This is not a simple question. Crops will ripen naturally but uneven crops will take longer and be more risky.

If there are a lot of weeds at the base there may be little choice but to spray with glyphosate as these will take off if we get rain as the canopy senesces. But if there are no weeds in an even maturing crop one could opt not to desiccate.

Where crops are visibly suffering drought stress, it may be difficult for glyphosate to enter or translocate throughout the plant to kill it.