First time lucky for hybrid barley winner

When David Lalor from Grangecon in Co Wicklow was announced as the winner of Ireland’s hybrid barley crop of the year 2016, he was more than a little surprised and delighted. This new award is one of those things that provides reward and acknowledgement for the efforts involved in crop production, a discipline where one gets only one chance to make every decision before living with its consequences.

David has traditionally been a big winter barley grower, with between 250 and 300 acres annually depending on rotation and land availability. Winter barley has been doing very well on his farm, with yields in excess of 4t/ac being common. He also had many crops above this yield levels in 2016, including a 4.47t/ac crop of Cassia.

David has been growing a lot of Meridian in recent years, which has been yielding consistently well. However, while it has served him well he has been considering alternatives to Meridian and decided last year to try a crop of hybrid to judge for himself how it would compare with his regular varieties.

Secret to his success

Asked what he puts his success with winter barley down to, his reply was “I don’t know for sure. I do nothing special I think except care for the crop and be as precise as possible with input timings.”

He does all of the work himself and he gives his crops his total dedication. David does not necessarily follow a specific rotation and neither does he use organic manures on a regular basis.

The only thing I can suggest as being unique to me is attention to detail

“I would like to have access to a number of forms of organic manure but they are difficult for me to secure”, he stated. He had used such products in the past and he may still be getting yield benefits from those applications applied a number of years ago. Like many other growers, David is now looking at applying chicken litter pellets to his crops to help with both nutrition and biological activity and he has already tried some in 2016 but is unsure of the direct benefits.

Six-row varieties

He has long been a grower of six-row varieties because when you consistently get over 4t/ac you will virtually always be above 62KPH. And as the market does not provide reward beyond this point he sees no incentive to produce or deliver to a higher specification. So he has been happy growing six-rows but he also grows a proportion of two-row varieties each year.

“The only thing I can suggest as being unique to me is attention to detail,” David commented. Crops come first. Problems are addressed as soon as possible and potential problems are headed off in advance. It is critical to keep the yield capacity in the crop as every setback can mean reduced yield potential.

Soil fertility is good – index 3 for P and K and he has worked hard to bring pH above 6.8 in recent years. He has significant manganese deficiency problems, which may be worse since pH was increased. All crops are managed to produce the best possible yield every year and there is relatively little sparing of inputs. “The winning crop cost €293/ac in variable costs”, David said.

The crop in question did not look particularly impressive when the judge visited the crop, David said. “Perhaps it is because it was a hybrid or perhaps it is something else, I don’t know, but it certainly turned itself inside out to produce that good yield,” he commented. But on this farm, good yields are quite consistent from year to year.

Winning crop

The winning crop was 48 acres of the variety Quadra which was sown on 29 September last. It was sown at 6.25st/ac and the seed was treated with Redigo Deter for early aphid control. It received about 165 units of nitrogen per acre, mainly in the form of urea, and part of this was applied between flag-leaf and ear emergence. The crop was held quite short and stiff following three separate applications of a low rate of growth regulator.

It is important to be pushed and to have someone dedicated to bounce ideas and concerns off

David has been a forward seller of grain for decades and he had over half his grain sold forward for 2016. “You win some and you lose some but generally you win in the poor-price years while you lose in the high-priced years.”

But it is much more important overall to win in the low-priced years and with more than half his grain forward sold he reckons that the benefit is around €20/t on current day prices. A big prize to go with his good yields.

David said that he is lucky to have the services of his Teagasc adviser, Martin Bourke. It is important to be pushed and to have someone as dedicated as Martin to bounce ideas and concerns off.

Certified seed

Given all the talk about weed grasses, David has opted to return exclusively to certified seed with its assurances about zero tolerance for most grasses. He has used home-saved seed in the past and will likely do so again in the future but for the moment he is trying to play safe. And given that he works on his own, the additional work required with home saving seed must be fitted into an already busy schedule.

Asked if he will grow hybrid varieties again, David replied with a definite yes. “They add a useful challenge to the business. I relish the challenge of trying to get yield levels that are significantly higher than my first effort.”

All winners

While there can only be one outright winner, all four finalists in this Seed Technology competition can be regarded as winners. Being a company based on technology, mainly for variety and genetic improvement, this competition is seen as a perfect fit. It was established to recognise the terrific efforts of growers and to showcase the potential for performance from this specific hybrid technology.

Good growers and good advisers can squeeze that bit extra from this technology and this is what the competition is about. All the participating crops were proposed by the advisers, rather than the growers. The other finalists in the competition were Pat Shine from Tipperary and his adviser, James Irish from Brett Brothers; Thomas McGuinness from Meath who was advised by Seamus Shevlin; and David Collier from Carlow who was advised by Michael Faule.

Growers and advisors need to be recognised for their professionalism – well done Seed Tech.