The spring barley harvest kicked into full gear in parts of the country over the weekend and Monday, while in other areas rain halted progress completely. Cork and Tipperary saw huge levels of work done, while combines moved in Wexford, parts of the northeast and midlands depending on showers on Sunday and Monday.

Outcomes were mixed.

Some spring barley crops were down at 2.5t/ac, while others were at 3.25t/ac and there were reports of higher. Moisture contents were at 20% or a little over in most cases. Some farmers reported that they were cutting crops on the rare side ahead of rain on Monday night and Tuesday to get them before they started to break down.

Low protein levels continued to be reported at 8.5-9.5% or so which is good for those with malting barley.

In most areas hectolitre weight was excellent, in the high 60s for many.

However, in parts of Wexford rejections on malting barley were reported on KPH, with levels under 63. Variety and fungicide treatments seemed to be playing a role.

There now looks to be some good weather in the forecast for the remainder of the week and into next week.

A large proportion of spring barley crops is expected to be ready for harvest by the end of this week which will see a peak in harvesting.