Athy,
Co Kildare
The harvest is complete on Andrew’s farm, but it hasn’t been straight forward. There were just two harvest days in the first three weeks of August. Rainfall amounted to 84.6mm for the month, but crops stood up well to the weather, with the exception of spring peas.
Andrew using a straw rake on chopped straw to help dry out potential slug eggs.
Andrew harvested the bulk of his Planet spring malting barley during the two day window.
He was happy with how the crop performed, averaging 3t/ac at around 18%mc at 66kph.
He chopped around 40% of his spring barley straw and aims to bale the rest
His early sown crop made distilling grade (8-8.5% protein content) and his later sown crops made brewing (9.5% protein content).
His Limona spring barley seed crop yielded around 2.5t/ac, at 18%mc between 61-65kph.
He was slightly disappointed with this yield, but it all passed for seed. He chopped around 40% of his spring barley straw and aims to bale the rest.
His spring pea crop averaged 1.5t/ac, well below the farm average of 1.8t/ac.
Successive wetting and drying led to pod weakening and coupled with crop lodging, led to high to losses.
The crop was harvested when the weather settled at the end of August.
Harvest progress went at a snail’s pace, taking 10 hours to harvest 15ac. Quality was good however, which made this effort worthwhile. He opted to chop the pea haulm.
Andrew finished his winter wheat last week when sunny weather returned. The Cellule crop averaged around 3.7t/ac at between 15.5% - 17.5% mc.
Grain weight was good, between 75-77kph, but Andrew feels there may not have been enough heads present to raise yield, even though initial plant counts were good. He also questions if drought had an impact on crop performance.
He is baling his winter wheat straw, which is averaging around five 8x4x3 square bales/ac.
Andrew is currently planting winter cover mix, consisting of tillage radish, phacelia, buckwheat and linseed at a cost of around €12/ac.
He also aims to plant winter oilseed rape for the first time this year. He thinks another break crop in his rotation could be beneficial for disease and pest management.
Bushmills,
Co Antrim
Ground conditions have taken a turn for the worse in Bushmills after 10 days of persistent rain. August has been an unsettled month on Mark’s farm, with rainfall totalling 125mm.
Temperatures have been reasonable however and tuber bulking and grass growth has been good.
Mild temperatures and high rainfall levels meant high blight pressure on Mark's farm.
With that said, he did have to house some of his cattle this week due to wet ground.
He harvested around two thirds of his spring barley area and was happy with its performance
Mark did get some harvest work done two weekends ago when the weather settled for a few days.
He harvested around two thirds of his spring barley area and was happy with its performance. The crop yielded around 2.8t/ac at 17%mc.
He was able to bale this straw the next day as the crop was burned off 10 days prior with glyphosate (2l/ha). The crop’s straw yields were good, averaging around 10 bales/ac.
Sticky conditions
Mark is digging early main crop potatoes as required and either bagging directly, or washing and bagging.
Ground conditions have become a real challenge, but so far his Grimme Varitron 220 self-propelled harvester has handled them with ease.
Potato consumption has been good in his area, helped by the wet weather.
He will begin burning down some of his main crop in two to three weeks’ time.
Test digs show that tubers have bulked well this season and are coming close to the correct size and dry matter content.
While flailing can be very effective, wet weather during a challenging season can make travelling between drills impossible
Canopies are generally dense this year, so Mark will use a two spray burn down strategy using Reglone.
The loss of Reglone (Diquat) is a real worry for Mark’s business, due to lack of viable alternatives.
While flailing can be very effective, wet weather during a challenging season can make travelling between drills impossible.
Mark has tried Spotlight Plus (Carfentrazone-ethyl) as a desiccant but found that it was only effective once leaves had been removed.
Blight pressure remains high and last Saturday he applied the fungicide Revus (0.6l/ha) as part of a seven day blight programme.
Ballyragget,
Co Kilkenny
James finished his own harvest on August 23 after availing of every break in the weather during the month.
Rainfall totals came in at 79mm for August on his farm, the majority of which fell in the first 20 days.
Forecasts of heavy rain generally didn’t materialise in the latter days of the month.
One of James's winter wheat straw stacks destined for composting.
James’s winter wheat moistures ranged from 19% -23%. He didn’t take the chance of waiting for moistures to fall, as quality can quickly slip when the crop over ripens in broken weather.
His winter wheat performed 0.4t/ac ahead of target, averaging 4.7t/ac
“There’s a cost of harvesting wheat at higher moistures, but this is far outweighed by the value of getting your grain harvested at high quality” explains James. His specific weights ranged from 68-78 kph, depending on the moisture.
His winter wheat performed 0.4t/ac ahead of target, averaging 4.7t/ac.
His winter barley performance was around average and his winter oilseed rape yielded ahead of target. His winter oats yielded well but quality was slightly disappointing.
Gathering straw is proving to be the real challenge for James. Broken weather, combined with shorter days has resulted in limited drying opportunities and straw has been too fresh to bale after harvesting.
James found that moving the sward onto dry ground using a single rotor rake has been key to drying the sward and maintaining quality
Contractor Padraig White baled James’s straw using three Krone square balers.
Baling 8x4x4 square bales, he gathered these with up to three Heath bale chasers.
James found that moving the sward onto dry ground using a single rotor rake has been key to drying the sward and maintaining quality. Straw demand is still strong with him.
Winter oilseed rape planting for harvest 2020 is now complete.
Afraid of a change in the weather, James worked day and night for five days straight to plant the varieties DK Extrovert and DK Expansion.
The crop was drilled into a stale seed bed at a rate of 32 seeds/m2. The seed was placed with 100kg/ha of DAP (18:20:0) and rolled after.
He applied a pre-emergence herbicide of Legion (1.3l/ha) to suppress broadleaved weeds and aims to apply a follow-up graminicide (Stratos Ultra) on some crops.
Read more
In pictures: harvest progress at a standstill along western seaboard
Boortmalt agrees to ‘top up’ seed growers' contracts
Athy,
Co Kildare
The harvest is complete on Andrew’s farm, but it hasn’t been straight forward. There were just two harvest days in the first three weeks of August. Rainfall amounted to 84.6mm for the month, but crops stood up well to the weather, with the exception of spring peas.
Andrew using a straw rake on chopped straw to help dry out potential slug eggs.
Andrew harvested the bulk of his Planet spring malting barley during the two day window.
He was happy with how the crop performed, averaging 3t/ac at around 18%mc at 66kph.
He chopped around 40% of his spring barley straw and aims to bale the rest
His early sown crop made distilling grade (8-8.5% protein content) and his later sown crops made brewing (9.5% protein content).
His Limona spring barley seed crop yielded around 2.5t/ac, at 18%mc between 61-65kph.
He was slightly disappointed with this yield, but it all passed for seed. He chopped around 40% of his spring barley straw and aims to bale the rest.
His spring pea crop averaged 1.5t/ac, well below the farm average of 1.8t/ac.
Successive wetting and drying led to pod weakening and coupled with crop lodging, led to high to losses.
The crop was harvested when the weather settled at the end of August.
Harvest progress went at a snail’s pace, taking 10 hours to harvest 15ac. Quality was good however, which made this effort worthwhile. He opted to chop the pea haulm.
Andrew finished his winter wheat last week when sunny weather returned. The Cellule crop averaged around 3.7t/ac at between 15.5% - 17.5% mc.
Grain weight was good, between 75-77kph, but Andrew feels there may not have been enough heads present to raise yield, even though initial plant counts were good. He also questions if drought had an impact on crop performance.
He is baling his winter wheat straw, which is averaging around five 8x4x3 square bales/ac.
Andrew is currently planting winter cover mix, consisting of tillage radish, phacelia, buckwheat and linseed at a cost of around €12/ac.
He also aims to plant winter oilseed rape for the first time this year. He thinks another break crop in his rotation could be beneficial for disease and pest management.
Bushmills,
Co Antrim
Ground conditions have taken a turn for the worse in Bushmills after 10 days of persistent rain. August has been an unsettled month on Mark’s farm, with rainfall totalling 125mm.
Temperatures have been reasonable however and tuber bulking and grass growth has been good.
Mild temperatures and high rainfall levels meant high blight pressure on Mark's farm.
With that said, he did have to house some of his cattle this week due to wet ground.
He harvested around two thirds of his spring barley area and was happy with its performance
Mark did get some harvest work done two weekends ago when the weather settled for a few days.
He harvested around two thirds of his spring barley area and was happy with its performance. The crop yielded around 2.8t/ac at 17%mc.
He was able to bale this straw the next day as the crop was burned off 10 days prior with glyphosate (2l/ha). The crop’s straw yields were good, averaging around 10 bales/ac.
Sticky conditions
Mark is digging early main crop potatoes as required and either bagging directly, or washing and bagging.
Ground conditions have become a real challenge, but so far his Grimme Varitron 220 self-propelled harvester has handled them with ease.
Potato consumption has been good in his area, helped by the wet weather.
He will begin burning down some of his main crop in two to three weeks’ time.
Test digs show that tubers have bulked well this season and are coming close to the correct size and dry matter content.
While flailing can be very effective, wet weather during a challenging season can make travelling between drills impossible
Canopies are generally dense this year, so Mark will use a two spray burn down strategy using Reglone.
The loss of Reglone (Diquat) is a real worry for Mark’s business, due to lack of viable alternatives.
While flailing can be very effective, wet weather during a challenging season can make travelling between drills impossible.
Mark has tried Spotlight Plus (Carfentrazone-ethyl) as a desiccant but found that it was only effective once leaves had been removed.
Blight pressure remains high and last Saturday he applied the fungicide Revus (0.6l/ha) as part of a seven day blight programme.
Ballyragget,
Co Kilkenny
James finished his own harvest on August 23 after availing of every break in the weather during the month.
Rainfall totals came in at 79mm for August on his farm, the majority of which fell in the first 20 days.
Forecasts of heavy rain generally didn’t materialise in the latter days of the month.
One of James's winter wheat straw stacks destined for composting.
James’s winter wheat moistures ranged from 19% -23%. He didn’t take the chance of waiting for moistures to fall, as quality can quickly slip when the crop over ripens in broken weather.
His winter wheat performed 0.4t/ac ahead of target, averaging 4.7t/ac
“There’s a cost of harvesting wheat at higher moistures, but this is far outweighed by the value of getting your grain harvested at high quality” explains James. His specific weights ranged from 68-78 kph, depending on the moisture.
His winter wheat performed 0.4t/ac ahead of target, averaging 4.7t/ac.
His winter barley performance was around average and his winter oilseed rape yielded ahead of target. His winter oats yielded well but quality was slightly disappointing.
Gathering straw is proving to be the real challenge for James. Broken weather, combined with shorter days has resulted in limited drying opportunities and straw has been too fresh to bale after harvesting.
James found that moving the sward onto dry ground using a single rotor rake has been key to drying the sward and maintaining quality
Contractor Padraig White baled James’s straw using three Krone square balers.
Baling 8x4x4 square bales, he gathered these with up to three Heath bale chasers.
James found that moving the sward onto dry ground using a single rotor rake has been key to drying the sward and maintaining quality. Straw demand is still strong with him.
Winter oilseed rape planting for harvest 2020 is now complete.
Afraid of a change in the weather, James worked day and night for five days straight to plant the varieties DK Extrovert and DK Expansion.
The crop was drilled into a stale seed bed at a rate of 32 seeds/m2. The seed was placed with 100kg/ha of DAP (18:20:0) and rolled after.
He applied a pre-emergence herbicide of Legion (1.3l/ha) to suppress broadleaved weeds and aims to apply a follow-up graminicide (Stratos Ultra) on some crops.
Read more
In pictures: harvest progress at a standstill along western seaboard
Boortmalt agrees to ‘top up’ seed growers' contracts
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