Quick turnaround as farmers prepare for planting

Pa Shine, Ardfinnan, Co Tipperary

The harvest finished with the spring oats for Pa. The last 30ac of oats ended up being the highest yielding, at 3.7t/ac. Pa was very surprised by this and didn’t think it would do anywhere near as well as it did. The crop was planted on 15 April. Pa baled the straw of the oats and it produced 12 round bales/ac. The last of the straw was baled last week in good weather. All straw has been sold and Pa says he could have sold more if he had it. Any deep tramlines have been sub-soiled to alleviate soil compaction issues caused by the wet spring this year.

Attention has now turned to the upcoming winter cereal planting season. Hedgecutting has taken place since 1 September and stubbles have been sprayed off with glyphosate recently where required. All fields will be ploughed before planting. Pa was thinking of starting to plough today (Thursday) and forward ploughing 130ac because the soil is so dry and it would take a lot of rain to wet the soil to the point where planting is not possible.

However, Pa will try to hold off on planting for as long as possible due to the higher risk of BYDV and disease pressure associated with early sowing. Winter barley will be going in after oats, while the winter wheat will be after oilseed rape. Pa says he would be happy to hold off on planting winter oats until early November.

Pa cultivated his oilseed rape stubble after harvest to encourage volunteer germination and kill slug eggs. However, he has noticed some slug damage on the volunteers so there is still some slug activity. Pa would like to not have to put slug pellets out, so he will wait to see how the season plays out.

Alex Butler, Street, Co Westmeath

The spring cereal harvest has finished in Westmeath, but it has led straight into the planting of winter cereals. Alex wrapped up the last of the spring barley last week. It averaged between 2.5 and 2.7t/ac at low moistures that got down to 15%.

Alex says he had typical yields for his area and that it is probably better than what he thought he would get when planting the crops. Straw yields were good, at over eight round bales/ac. Alex also chopped straw on some tough headlands.

The organic spring oats have also been harvested, and the average here came in at 1.75t/ac, with some crops at 2t/ac.

The spring beans are still a week away, so Alex started planting winter wheat last Friday. He would prefer to hold off on planting winter crops for another while, but he wants to get crops planted before taking a break in order to harvest beans in a week’s time, and spring oilseed rape, which will be swarthed this week and worryingly is still about three weeks away from harvest.

Graham winter wheat is being planted at 160kg/ha, while some winter barley is being planted too. Alex is sticking to a BYDV tolerant variety due to the early planting, with KWS Joyau being drilled at 175kg/ha. Some fields are being ploughed while others are min-tilled where possible, depending on the state of the fields after the wet winter last year and the level of soil compaction.

The maize grains are filling out well with little to no blind grains, but they are still quite milky and Alex thinks that harvest is two weeks away at a minimum.

The remaining winter oilseed rape was planted too and has emerged well. The earlier planted crops are growing strongly, but there is still high slug pressure, so Alex says that a second slug pellet application may be warranted in the coming days.

Tom Murray, O’Shea Farms, Piltown, Co Kilkenny

The cereal harvest has finished in Kilkenny too, with the focus now on potatoes. The spring oats were the last to be harvested. Fields in continuous cereals yielded 3.3t to 3.5t/ac, while fields that were after carrots and two years out of grass yielded 3.7t/ac. The oats also produced nine round bales/ac.

Tom was very happy with this and says that both winter and spring oats have always been a consistent high-performer on the farm, more so than wheat. This may be due to the land being on the lighter side.

Potatoes are now being dug for storage. The Jazzy potatoes will be finished this week, while the Roosters will then be started into, with just a small area of Roosters harvested so far. Tom says that they are getting on well, but yields are back 10-15% on the farm’s five-year average.

Tom notes that this was expected with the late spring and the low sunlight levels over the summer. However, quality is very good, with good dry matters and high eating quality.

The dry weather has meant that irrigation has been necessary ahead of the potato harvester to limit damage and bruising, while the water kit is in operation on the harvester.

The carrots have also been irrigated over the past 10 days, with 15mm of water applied to alleviate soil moisture deficits.

Straw is currently being delivered to fields and will be applied to cover the carrots once the potato harvest is over. This has been very expensive this year, due to the high straw prices.

The maize is starting to turn, but is still a long way off harvest. Tom says the cobs are reaching maturity more quickly than the foliage. Tom is also thinking of planting winter cereals in the next two weeks. Ploughing will be carried out a day or two before planting.